Infrastructure to Support the Coverage of Otters under the H4 indicator

The H4 indicator on 'the exposure and adverse effects of chemicals on wildlife in the environment' is one of a suite of indicators created to help measure progress against commitments in the 25-Year Environment Plan (25-YEP)1. It contributes to assessing whether the UK Government is managing exposure to chemicals and is published as part of the 25-YEP Outcome Indicator Framework2. It reports on chemicals such as persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances, heavy metals, and pesticides and biocides in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environmental compartments. An interim version of the indicator has been published3, but there are currently evidence gaps in the exposure information. The gaps include a lack of data for otters with only some very historical data being provided. As top predators in freshwater, otters are a key species for H4, i.e. to give balance to the information provided in the indicator both within and across the different environmental compartments. They are particularly important for improving our understanding of chemical contaminants that move up the food chain and/or are not detectable in water samples, e.g. persistent organic pollutants defined under the Stockholm Convention. This work aims to enable the coverage of otters under the H4 indicator through the Contractor (Cardiff University Otter Project (CUOP)), supporting the infrastructure to enable the informed use of otter samples and data over time. It builds on related work during 21/22 with the CUOP supporting the analysis of historical and current otter samples from England by analytical laboratories and to inform the development work of H4 generally.