At least 50,000 metric tonnes of chemical munitions have been dumped in the Baltic Sea since the Second World War, many of them containing poisonous substances. Uncertainty still exists about the location of all dumping areas, the content and condition of the munitions or how they behave under Baltic Sea conditions. The CHEMSEA project seeks to close our knowledge gaps on this topic by mapping and characterizing these dumping sites, to develop guidelines in order to reduce potential threats to the environment and fishermen and to prepare a region-wide contigency plan to deal with cases of leakage. CHEMSEA will conduct toxicity studies to investigate the biological uptake of CWA under varying environmental conditions. These tests will include both laboratory activities and field measurements of concentrations and effects of CWA in representative fish species and benthic fauna caught in the dumping area. Effects in fish will be studied using various biomarkers which serve to characterize health status and by utilizing data available from fish stock | 