Marine Environment

- By Swain pereira The technology is rapidly growing and it is also beneficial in other ways, it is helping the world to grow up and lots of machines and transit vehicles are being developed helping the humans for their needs and in other ways the machines need fuels like petrol, diesel etc; to make them move. Due to uneven distribution of oil reserves on the earth oil must be transported where there is a need. As shipping is the cheapest way to transport oil from one place to other oil is shipped in the form of crude oil around the world in tankers. Ships may encounter with accidents, events like bad weather and intentional spills like dumping of oil thus oil spills occur. Annually, it is estimated that 1,300,000 tonnes of oil goes to the sea (NRC, 2003), around 53% of which comes from human activities such as petroleum extraction, transportation and consumption, and the remaining 47% is caused by natural seepage (IPIECA, 2005) Victoria University Library (Digital Theses database) pp 2: http://wallaby.vu.edu.au/adtVVUT/uploads/approved/adt-VVUT20070510.163002/public/02Chapter1.pdf Oil spills may occur due to human error and carelessness and results in oil to be leaked into the sea. It may also occur due to faulty equipment in the ship resulting in accidents like ship getting struck on shallow land which makes a hole and oil runs out of the tanker. Oil was also been dumped into sea during wars in the past in the enemy s waters which happened in Persian Gulf. Many ships normally used to dump oil in the sea to save money on the port charges of breaking up oil. Some oil spills have also been occurred by natural disasters like the hurricanes by flipping the tanker and oil been lost to the sea. Many writers and researchers who did a lot of research on the subject of oil spills occurred at sea suggest that it makes a huge impact in the marine environment and the nature. History of the oil spills occurred in the sea waters has a huge list. Many of them where very disastrous and took very long to clear some showed their effects about 2-10 years from the time they occurred. Some oil spills can occur due to pipeline leakage inside the sea and not only due to ships. There have been number of oil spill disasters in the sea during last 40 yrs or some of the major include:

Some of the Major Oil Spill Disasters in History

2002 November 2001 January 2000 June 2000 January 1999 December 1996 February 1993 January Spain Ecuador South Africa Brazil France UK UK Prestige tanker carrying 77,000 tonnes of fuel oil sunk at the Spanish coast. Ecuadorean-registered ship Jessica spilled 175,000 gallons of diesel and bunker oil into the sea off the Galapagos Islands. 1,400 tonnes of heavy fuel oil leaked from the bulk carrier Treasure off Cape Town, affecting penguins on Dassen and Robben Islands. 340,000 gallons of heavy oil spewed when a pipeline ruptured near Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro. 25,000 tonnes of viscous fuel oil spilled after Maltese tanker Erika sank after splitting in two. Sea Empress hit rocks near Milford Haven, Wales, and spilled about 40,000 tonnes of oil. A major oil spillage with worst ship wreck in UK waters occurred when the tanker Braer hit rocks near the coast of the Shetland

Islands and spilled its cargo of 85,000 tonnes of crude oil. 1992 Spain The Aegean Sea ran aground at La Coruna spilling 80,000 tonnes of December oil cargo. 1991 May Angola/Liberia ABT Summer leaked 260,000 tonnes of oil after an explosion off Angola. 1991 April Italy 50,000 tons of oil off Genoa in Italy was spilled by the Haven 1991 Persian Gulf During the Gulf war Iraq released 460 million gallons of crude oil into January the Persian Gulf. 1990 USA Bosa Chica, one of southern California's biggest nature preserves February were polluted when the American Trader leaked 300,000 gallons of crude oil. 1989 March USA Exxon Valdez hit the rocks and spilled 10 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound and the shores of Alaska. 1983 South Africa At the coast of Cape Town Fire broke out on the Spanish tanker August Castillo de Bellver and 175.6m gallons of light crude were burnt off. 1979 July Trinidad The collision between the Atlantic Empress and the Aegean Captain spilled 160,000 tons of crude oil near Tobago. 1978 March France Amoco Cadiz ran aground near Portsall spilling 67.2m gallons of crude and the slick eventually covered 125 miles of Breton coast. 1967 March UK The Torrey Canyon spilled 80,000 tonnes of crude off the Scilly Islands (Cornwall) in the UK. Source: Sky News http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1070965,00.html Oil is a natural substance. Oil spilled at sea generally floats due to its nature of being lighter than water, oil can rarely sink and oil and water cannot be mixed together. Dispersion and degradation of oil can occur when it is spilled at sea if the conditions are favourable. The impact of crude oil on marine environment depends on a number of factors, such as the amount of oil spilled the physical and chemical properties, the weather conditions and if the oil stays at sea or comes ashore, the sensitivity of the area where the oil spill occurred and its biological characteristics. The chemical compounds in the petroleum products and crude oils react with the sea life poisoning and killing plankton on which the marine animals and marine species depend on as their food. The sticky residues which are left behind due to weathering of the crude oils floats on the surface of the water suffocating and sticking on the body of the animals and sea weeds. After every such event of oil spillage there are pictures of dead or heavily affected birds and sea animals in the news, it shows the effect and the environmental damage occurred. Documentation and studies are carried out scientifically whenever the spill occurs leaving its impacts but yet not all the effects of it are understood. Following are the some typical impacts due to oil spill. Plankton: The plankton is important for primary productivity in the oceans and in it the eggs grow and the larvae of the fish, shellfish, seabed and shoreline organisms but it is known that there is great widespread of damage to all these from the oil spills which subsequently translates into long term damage. Studies carried out in various laboratories have demonstrated that there are toxic and sub-lethal effects on the plankton caused by oil and is has a widespread impact. Shorelines:

Whenever a spill occurs the oil mostly tends to settle down to the shorelines due to the wind flow and thus it shoreline is more exposed to the oil. Many animals and species which live on the shorelines are tough as they are used with the waves and drying heights and high temperatures thus they are somewhat able to withstand the damage and recover faster if proper effective cleaning of oil is carried out. The marine mammals such as seals and otters are more prone to danger as they breed on the shorelines and thus they can swim in oily water making oil stick on their body. Thus there are the chances that they can die from hypothermia as they rely on fur to regulate their body temperature and if they become matted with oil. Oil can even kill an animal by entering the lungs or the liver of that animal and poisoning it. Oil can blind animal by sticking on its eyes and thus they won t be aware of their predators and they will eat them. The mangrove trees provide an extremely rich and diverse habitat with coastal protection in tropical regions. They can be killed by the oil if oil smothers their breathing roots and if the toxic oils penetrate inside the sediments and roots of the trees. Seabirds: The oil spilled obviously floats on the water and the seabirds are the most affected by it that are mostly harmed by the floating oil sticking on their wings and body. The species of the birds feed on the fish by diving in the water and catching them to eat. They are then oiled by floating oil which will affect their flying ability as the wings are sticky and their body covered in oil they can hardly get out of the water. Some birds may eat the fish that is already poisoned by oil and will die of eating poisoned fish. The birds that have their body covered in oil will lose their insulating ability and may die. The Exxon Valdez oil spill, which occurred in 1989, is believed to have killed more than 30,000 birds (Piatt et al., 1990). In the North Atlantic alone, it is estimated that at least one million birds are killed by oil pollution annually (Welte and Frink, 1991) [Victoria University Library (Digital Theses database) pp 2:http://wallaby.vu.edu.au/adt-VVUT/uploads/approved/adtVVUT20070510.163002/public/02Chapter1.pdf]. Killer Whales: By the happenings of oil spillages killer whales are the endangered species in the sea. The whales have blowhole which helps them to breathe and is very important for them. Whales often come up to the surface of the water to take breath, and when the surface of the water is covered with the oil they will breathe in the oil from their blowhole and thus the blowhole eventually will get chocked up with thick and sticky oil preventing them from breathing in anymore. The other reason for whales dying during the spill are when they eat fish that would have at first swam through the oil and was poisoned by the oil or the whale will swallow the entire fish that is floating in the oil with a proportion of oil with the fish as well which will in turn poison the whale and it will die. If oil is spilled it also affects the fishing industry, resorts and recreation areas, water supplies for drinking and industries which rely on water from the sea and are based close to the shore. Various researches are carried out daily on the marine life and due to the advancement in technology and research and new ways to deal with oil spill and process of rehabilitation a lot can be recovered even after a major oil spill has occurred. In the rehabilitation of oiled birds the objectives are the rescue, treatment, cleaning and, ultimately, the release of the healthy animals to the natural environment (Anderson etal; 2000; USFWS, 2002). According to Welte and Frink (1991), Frink and Crozer-Jones (1986; 1990) and IBRRCa (2004) there are several basic steps involved in the rehabilitation of a contaminated bird. These are: (a) stabilisation of the oiled bird (b) cleaning of oil from the bird (c) removal of the cleaning agent from the bird s feathers (d) restoration of its water proofing ability, and finally (e) acclimation of the bird for release. [Victoria University Library (Digital Theses database) pp4:-http://wallaby.vu.edu.au/adt-VVUT/uploads/approved/adt-

VVUT20070510.163002/public/02Chapter1.pdf]. Above steps are followed in cleaning the birds and when they are completed the bird will be allowed to swim the bird will then trim and clean its own feathers to bring them back to their normal body structure. Bird is then tested for its muscular structure and then released to wild when found normal. Some similar procedure is carried out for cleaning the oiled otters. They are usually washed by warm water as these helps to break down the oil and can keep them warm. The otters are also medically treated on the process of cleaning them to identify if they are free from diseases and have no broken bones and healthy as well. The otters will be watched for few more days till they don t get strong enough to go back to their habitat and are finally discharged when all test show they are good to go. Legislations for responding to oil pollution at sea are in force to stop the effects of oil spill and hence bodies like IMO are have conventions to keep oceans clean and environmentally safe. The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, (MARPOL 73/78) came into force in 1973 after the Torrey Canyon tanker ran aground in English channel and spilled her entire cargo of 12,000 tons of crude oil in 1967 and this raised questions about accidental pollutions and that there must be some measures to prevent pollution at sea, and this convention was further modified by the Protocol of 1978 with many revisions done till date. MARPOL convention was formed in order to minimise and reduce the amount of accidental spillages and rules to prevent pollution by oil at sea. There are six annexes in MARPOL, from which Annex I is particularly for oil tankers and specifies regulations to minimise oil pollution caused by ships. The amounts of oil that can be discharged in special areas is controlled and prohibited. There is a requirement for shipboard oil pollution emergency plans and amendments are made to the Annex I for the oil tankers to be constructed with double hulls to reduce oil leakage on collisions and accidents like grounding etc. For response to oil spillage The International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC) was adopted in 1990 to help the governments to battle oil spillages and pollution incidents occurred by oil. It gained international acceptance in May 1995. It has an Oil Pollution Manual which has six different sections that provides guidance and procedures to be followed for the governments of different countries to help combat oil spills. Section I is prevention. Section II is Contingency Planning which helps to prepare contingency plans for governments. Section III named Salvage helps Administrations and officials involved with oil pollution casualties to lessen the serious effects of such accidents whatever the cause of spillage it may be. Section IV for combating oil spills which provides practical response measures to deal with oil pollution and spills. Section V is Administrative Aspects of Oil Pollution Response which is intended to provide various interests involved in an oil pollution emergency and its aftermath and the liability and compensation for the damage occurred during oil pollution. Section VI provides guidelines for identification and sampling of the oil spills and gives information on the kind of dispersants that must be used on that certain oil spill. Thus by following these conventions safely and responsibly various oil spills and pollution can also be reduced to considerable amount. To keep the marine environment clean and free from oil spill damages the most appropriate cleaning techniques must be chosen depending on the exact circumstances of the incident occurred. The effectiveness of the response to a major pollution depends on the quality of the contingency plan and the organisation and control of the various aspects of the clean-up operation. Information from Aerial methods is of vital importance for effective responsiveness of marine oil spill. Aerial methods can help to properly assess the site of the oil spill and the boundaries of the oil spill and can help in estimation and prediction where the floating oil will reach in certain time. With exact predictions various measures can be taken to prevent it from reaching the shore and coastal areas. Aerial methods can also be used for spraying dispersants over the spillage area to make oil settle down to the earth. (According to Mullin and Champ, 2003; Ventinkos et al; 2004) appropriate remediation techniques generally fall into

four categories, namely: mechanical/physical recovery (booms, skimmers, and sorbents), chemical treatment (dispersants, emulsion breakers; gelling agents, sinking agents), bioremediation and in-situ burning. [Victoria University Library (Digital Theses database) pp 4: http://wallaby.vu.edu.au/adtVVUT/uploads/approved/adt-VVUT20070510.163002/public/02Chapter1.pdf]. It is obvious for the oil when it is spilled to float and come ashore and damage the coastal areas. So measures must be taken before the oil reaches the shore and this can be done by using booms and other advanced techniques to collect the floating oil that will prevent the oil from reaching the coasts. The sensitive areas like the fish and shell farms, birds colonies, water intakes of the industries and marinas should be boomed so that oil ay not reach there and they can be protected. Wherever the spill has occurred hazing procedures must be used to scare the birds and keep them away from it by sounding horns, netting the area or keeping flashing buoys so the birds won t come there and get trapped in oily water. Skimmers are widely used after the area is properly boomed to collect the oil on the water surface which is contained in booms. Standardized and recommended dispersants are very effective for the response against oil spillage as they can remove large and certain types of oils from the water surface and help oil break down. Oil can then breakup naturally by wave energy and form small droplets which then gets dissolved in water by micro organisms naturally. Dispersants are chemicals and they help in breakup of oil but they are to be carefully as the chemical may react with other things in the environment. The most popular methods of using dispersants are by spraying by aerial methods and from ships. Sorbents are very effective as well to absorb the floating oil over the surface they have high absorbing capability and are prepared from natural substances like straw, grass and coconut husks etc. Some other methods are burning of the oil which is very effective and efficient but the only drawback is the amount of black smoke produced by burning oil. Natural biodegradation can be done by the oil-eating bacteria if they are provided with the fertilizers and oxygen to enhance the process. If oil is spilled in open Ocean it is very hard to clean up as it is not efficient to go in deep oceans to clean hence it can be left alone and the oil breaks down naturally by photo oxidation and wave energy and it won t reach the shores. Shorelines can be cleaned by vacuum trucks and workers where trucks cannot reach otherwise trucks are more efficient for collecting oil from sandy beaches and shores. Many precautions are been taken nowadays like ships are constructed double hulled which prevents leakage of oil if tanker runs aground and filtration of oil from the bilges so that oil does not reach the oceans etc. to prevent oil pollution in the sea and stop spillages accidents do happen and so following the proper methods of cleaning make less damage to the environment and it can remain clean and healthy for the marine life and everyone who is dependent on it. For the EXXON VALDEZ (Alaska, 1989) cleanup alone cost in the region was about US$2.5 billion [The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF):http://www.itopf.com/spill-compensation/cost-of-spills/]. This was one of the most expensive oil spills in the history. Since cleanup after an oil spill is so ineffective and so difficult, and does not always fully rehabilitate affected areas, prevention is most important. Thus improved piloting, training of ship and tanker crews is of vital importance.

References:MARPOL 73/78: http://www.imo.org/Conventions/contents.asp?doc_id=678&topic_id=258 The International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (1990): http://www.imo.org/Conventions/contents.asp?topic_id=258&doc_id=682

The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF): http://www.itopf.com/marine%2Dspills/ Victoria University Library (Digital Theses): http://wallaby.vu.edu.au/adt-VVUT/uploads/approved/adtVVUT20070510.163002/public/02Chapter1.pdf International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association: http://www.ipieca.org/activities/oilspill/oil_publications.php#23 Oil Spill Intelligence Report, Arlington, MA, U.S.A. Smith, JW 1983. The control of oil pollution Graham and Trotman Limited, London,UK. Smail, J 1978, Separating oil from sea birds: giving witness or saving lives , Oceans, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 59-61. Norman, R 2003, Why rehabilitate oiled wildlife? , Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Effects of Oil on Wildlife, Hamburg, Germany. Environmental Protection Agency (Oil Spill):http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/oil/edu/oilspill_book/chap1.pdf http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/oil/edu/oilspill_book/chap2.pdf http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/oil/edu/oilspill_book/chap3.pdf http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/oil/edu/oilspill_book/chap4.pdf http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/oil/edu/oilspill_book/chap5.pdf http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/oil/edu/oilspill_book/chap6.pdf http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/oil/edu/oilspill_book/chap7.pdf http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/docs/oil/edu/oilspill_book/chap8.pdf Stewart, Anne: "World Oil Pollution: Causes, Prevention and Clean- Up" http://oceanlink.island.net/oceanmatters/oil%20pollution.html The Institute of Petroleum (Oil Spills):- http://www.energyinst.org.uk/education/natural/7.htm Protecting the Home We Live In: Environmental Issues Novi Meadows Elementary, 2002:- http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/oil_spills.htm