205 
does not allow an evaluation of the results with respect to regional patterns, species 
differences, or time variability. 
6.4.4.4 Discussion 
As trifluralin analyses were made with a very low LOQ, the substance was detectable in 
most samples of water, sediment and fish liver from the North Sea and Baltic Sea. 
Concentrations were very low in summer, with a median of 15 pg/L in water samples, 
10 ng/kg dw in sediments, and 0.42 p/kg ww in fish liver samples. In winter, water 
concentrations were about 10 times higher, which is due to preferred use of the 
herbicide as a preseed agent in winter. 
Figure 50: Summary of trifluralin concentrations in different marine matrices; min - max range and 
median values 
Comparisons with literature data are difficult because LODs in most studies are far 
higher (>ng/L) than in the present survey, and trifluralin is mostly found to be below the 
LOD. The concentrations reported in this survey compare well with data from the same 
laboratory (BSH) which, however, had been obtained by a different analysis technique 
and with a higher LOD (liquid/liquid extraction and analysis by GC-MS in El mode). 
Concentrations of 30 pg/L or lower had been obtained in those analyses.