The principal objective of the SIP is to improve the scientific basis for assessing the risk from sediment bound contaminants to ecosystem quality and viability and to human health. Sub-goals are:
- Quantify the role of the sediments as a source of bioava ilable PCBs and PAHs and how this is affected by enhanced bioturbation and resuspension
- Improve parameterisation of some of the models used for current risk assessment
- Establish the sensitivity of sub-lethal endpoints in relation to behavioural endpo ints and mortality
- Establish relationships between in vitro toxicity tests and whole-sediment tests
- Simulate the disposition of contaminants in the food web
- Predict the importance of remedial actions on contaminated sediments for the future contami nant concentrations in biota at different trophic levels
- Evaluate the reliability of site/sediment-specific food web concentration predictions