Quality Assurance in marine biological monitoring

The following paper outlines a system of Quality Assurance that should be in place for all marine biological monitoring: Quality Assurance in Marine Biological Monitoring.

Data standards and guidelines 

Adherence to data standards and guidelines (where they exist) on a national, European or international scale is necessary to demonstrate that the data produced from an organisation's monitoring programme is of an equivalent scientific quality and comparability at a national, European or international scale.  Such data standards and guidelines include:

1. Authoritative taxonomic species lists which contain current taxonomic names and synonyms, for example: 
   • World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), which is now endorsed by the Healthy and Biologically Diverse Seas Evidence Group (HBDSEG).
2. Data and metadata guidelines which define data and metadata formats to ensure data can be easily and shared in the future, for example: 
   • Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) data guidelines (e.g. Sediment sampling by grab or core for benthos)

   • Mapping European Seabed Habitats (MESH) standards

Standardised methods

Development of and adherence to national, European or international standardised methods (where they exist) is a statutory requirement in the Water Framework and the Marine Strategy Framework Directives.  The adoption of standardised methods ensures consistency between organisations and will allow for the production of data which is of an equivalent scientific quality and comparability. 

Many of the UK government agencies protocols and standards for UK and European marine monitoring programmes are available on the United Kingdom Directory of the Marine-observing Systems.

The following is a list of all British Standards (BSi), International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) standards, NMBAQC and European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) standards which exist for marine biological monitoring:

Benthic Invertebrate Component Scheme Standards, 2010

D.J. Hall. National Marine Biological Analytical Quality Control Scheme. Description of Scheme Standards for the Benthic Invertebrate Component From Scheme Year 8 (2001/02). Report to the NMBAQC Scheme participants. 4pp, February 2010.

Saltmarsh mapping standardisation for the Water Framework Directive

C.Hambridge and N. Phelan. Saltmarsh mapping standardisation for the Water Framework Directive. 37pp, 2014.

General 

EN 17211:2019 Water quality - Guidance on mapping of seagrasses and macroalgae in the eulittoral zone

EN 17218:2019 Water quality - Guidance on sampling of mesozooplankton from marine and brackish water 

BS  ISO 5667-1:2006. Water quality - Sampling - Part 1: Guidance on the design of sampling programmes and sampling techniques.  42 pp.

BS EN ISO 5667-3: 2018.  Water quality -Sampling - Part 3: Guidance on the preservation and handling of water samples. 

BS EN ISO 5667-3: 2012.  Water quality -Sampling - Part 3: Guidance on the preservation and handling of water samples. 

BS ISO 5667-20:2008. Water quality. Sampling. Guidance on the use of sampling data for decision making. Compliance with thresholds and classification systems. 

BS EN 16493:2014. Water quality. Nomenclature requirements for the recording of biodiversity data, taxonomic checklists and keys. 16pp.

BS ISO 11352:2012.   Water quality. Estimation of measurement uncertainty based on validation and quality control data. 

BS EN 16164:2013. Water quality. Guidance standard for designing and selecting taxonomic keys. 

BS EN ISO 5667-14:2016. Water quality. Sampling. Part 14. Guidance on quality assurance and quality control of environmental water sampling and handling. 

BS ISO 5667-20:2008. Water quality. Sampling. Guidance on the use of sampling data for decision making. Compliance with thresholds and classification systems. 

BS 6068-6.9:1993, ISO 5667-9:1992. Water quality. Sampling. Guidance on sampling from marine waters. 

BS 6068-6.12:1996, ISO 5667-12:2017. Water quality. Sampling. Guidance on sampling of bottom sediments from rivers, lakes and estuarine areas.

BS EN ISO 5667-19:2004.  Water quality - Part 19: Guidance on sampling in marine sediments.  26 pp.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

BS EN 14996:2006.  Water quality - Guidance on assuring the quality of biological and ecological assessments in the aquatic environment. 14pp.

BS EN ISO/IEC 17025: 2017.  General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.  28pp.

BS EN ISO 19011:2018.  Guidelines for quality and/or environmental management systems auditing.

BS EN 16101:2012. Water quality. Guidance standard on interlaboratory comparison studies for ecological assessment.

ICES, 2004. Biological monitoring: General guidelines for quality assurance. Ed. by H. Rees. ICES Techniques in Marine Environmental Sciences, No. 32. 44 pp.

BS EN 14996:2006.  Water quality - Guidance on assuring the quality of biological and ecological assessments in the aquatic environment. 14pp.

BS EN 17218:2019 Water quality. Guidance on sampling of mesozooplankton from marine and brackish water using mesh 

BS EN 17204:2019, Water quality. Guidance on analysis of mesozooplankton from marine and brackish waters

ASTM E1200 - 87(2012). Standard Practice for Preserving Zooplankton Samples.

BS EN 15110:2006, BS 6068-5.41:2006. Water quality. Guidance standard for the sampling of zooplankton from standing waters.