H E L P !

Now that you know how oil spills are a hazard for marine life, are you going to help?


There are various procedures we can use in order to stop oil spills and save marine life. One way of preventing oil spills is by using double hulled ships. A double hulled ship is a ship that is used to transport oil from one place to the other. What allows the boat to protect the oil from reaching the sea is its two layers. A regular oil tanker, on the other hand, only has one. The first layer of the tanker is where the oil is kept. The second layer, however, is what prevents the oil from reaching the ocean because it surrounds the first layer. Therefore, if there was a crack on the tank, only a small amount of oil would reach the sea, saving the lives of thousands of marine animals. In order for a greater amount of oil to reach the ocean, the crack would have to perforate both layers. There is currently a law that stated that by 2015, all tankers must be a double hulled ship.

Another to help the oil from entering the water is by putting a boom around the tanker that is spilling the oil. This boom will collect the oil that entered the water.

After an oil spill occurs, there are a few ways in which the oil can be broken down. One way is by the use of airplanes. These airplanes throw chemicals into the affected area which break down the oil. However, these chemicals can still contaminate the water.

The government has created various organizations that help prevent and clean up oil spills. Some of them are the United States Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Minerals Management Service.

Exxon Valdez

EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL

One of the largest ecological disasters of U.S history is the incident of the former Exxon Corporation in May 24, 1989. An oil tank, called Exxon Valdez, owned by a the former Exxon shipping company was on route from Valdez, Alaska to Los Angeles, California, before it unexpectedly hit Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef. Because of this accident, about 10.8 million US gallons of crude oil was spilled into the ocean. The oil spill impacted over 1,100 miles of non-continuous coastline in Alaska. Because of a storm that later hit Prince William Sound, the wind spread the oil another 90 miles from the spill site. Additionally, clean up was hard because part of the oil reached rocky beaches.

This event brough economic impacts like tourism losses and recreational sport fishing losses. Today, approximately 20 acres of shoreline in Prince William Sound are still contaminated with oil.

Because of this accidents,"1000 to 2800 sea otters, 302 harbor seals, and unprecedented numbers of seabird deaths estimated at 250,000 died" (http://www.eoearth.org/article/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill)

What is Oil Pollution?

What is Oil Pollution and where does it come from?

Oil spills are one important factor of marine pollution. Hundreds of millions of gallons of oil end up in the seas every year, and most of these oil discharges are non-accidental. Large spills of oil in the ocean can be devastating, and marine life is heavily affected by this contamination.

Oil spills occur when people mistakenly cause an oil tank to leak into the ocean. Animals are affected by these oil spills because if the oil enters their lungs or livers, the animal will quickly be poisoned by it. Killer whales, Sea Otters, and Sea Birds are now becoming endangered by this pollution problem which is manageable.

The following graph shows the amount of millions of gallons that is thrown into the ocean yearly, worldwide. (http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/peril_oil_pollution.html)