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3 - Oil in the water column

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2013

By
Paul D. Boehm ,
Jerry M. Neff  and
David S. Page
Edited by
John A. Wiens
John A. Wiens
Affiliation:
PRBO Conservation Science, California and University of Western Australia, Perth
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Summary

Introduction

When crude oil or petroleum products are released during a marine oil spill, organisms living in the water or feeding at the surface are the first to be affected. Oil on water or mixed into the water column may injure aquatic species of all types. Understanding the potential for injury to organisms from exposure to oil requires fully studying physical and chemical effects and quickly communicating the results. The risks to the public from the consumption of fish or other species normally harvested from the water can also be serious. A comprehensive water-assessment program provides quantitative data to address multiple concerns.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill was, until recently, the most comprehensively sampled oil spill in history and remains the most exhaustively studied oil spill. In fact, the thoroughness of the data – and the disappearance of most oil slicks and sheens by the end of the summer of 1989 – enabled all commercial fisheries to be reopened in 1990, much earlier than had been anticipated. Techniques and protocols established during the Exxon Valdez spill have been used in subsequent spills, most notably in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Type
Chapter
Information
Oil in the Environment
Legacies and Lessons of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
 , pp. 57 - 77
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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