**2. Major oil spills related to marine environments**

hydrocarbons can cause respiratory tract irritations, as well as narcosis in mammals and birds. This is due to the volatile nature of hydrocarbons. Oil dispersants, which are a common tool used after oil spills, are also toxic and threaten pelagic and benthic

In recent years, written studies have provided a considerable amount of information regarding the impact of oil spills and contamination of the seawater by hydrocarbons. The impact on marine life is impaired by the toxicity and tainting effects resulting from the chemical composition of oil, as well as by the diversity and variability of biological systems and their sensitivity to oil pollution. Marine life may also be affected by clean-up operations or, indirectly, by the physical damage to the habitats

Communities that are threatened by marine oil spills have developed their own plans and policies to counteract the risk of marine oil contamination. These range from permitting or prohibiting increased oil transport volumes, to developing the capacity to respond to and recover from potential oil spill disasters. Considering that approx‐ imately half of the world's oil production comes from the Gulf States and passes through the Gulf, its liability to pollution is about 48 times that of any other similar area on earth. Thus, the Gulf is possibly the most chronically oil-polluted marine area in the world. Due to the different anthropogenic activities relating to oil spills, in addition to the natural environmental stresses of the Gulf, a number of socio-economic impacts are predicted. The multi-million dollar fish industry will be threatened, as well as the desalination of plants that supply most of the Gulf population's freshwater. Furthermore, people with careers in scuba diving will lose their jobs. As a result, the

**Keywords:** Contamination, Crude, Hydrocarbon, Impact, Life, Marine, Oil, Petrole‐

Environmental pollution caused by petroleum is of great concern. This is because petroleum hydrocarbons are toxic to all forms of life and harm both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The pollution of marine habitats has caught the attention of researchers and environmentalists. This is due to the serious impact of oil spills on marine life, as well as on people whose career relies on the exploitation of the sea's resources. Additionally, marine life may be affected by clean-up operations. It may also be indirectly affected by the physical damage to the habitats

Petroleum marine fuel spills, which result from damage, transportation accidents and vari‐ ous other industrial and mining activities, are classified as hazardous waste [1]. They are

considered to be the most frequent organic pollutants of aquatic ecosystems [2-3].

organisms, as well as fish.

78 Emerging Pollutants in the Environment - Current and Further Implications

in which plants and animals live.

um, Spill, Toxicity, Water

in which plants and animals live in.

**1. Introduction**

scuba diving tourism sector will also come under threat.

Saltwater bodies are referred to as 'marine environments', with the oceans covering about 70% of the earth. Statistics estimate that 3.2 million tonnes of oil per year are released from all sources into the environment. The majority of this oil is due to general shipping and industrial activities [15]. During the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), approximately 2 million barrels of oil were discharged into the Arabian Gulf sea water. These included 1.5 million barrels from the Nawruz blow-out in 1983 [16]. Following the Gulf War in 1991, between 4 and 8 million barrels (1,000 tonnes = 7,500 barrels) were released into the Gulf and the Kuwaiti Desert, making this the largest oil spill in history at that time [17]. When compared to other major spills, the size of this spill attracted global attention. For example, the *Amoco Cadiz* off the coast of Brittany (France), spilling 200,000 tonnes (1.5 million barrels); the *Torrey Canyon, Braer*, *Sea Empress* and the super tanker *Breaf* off the coast of Shetland (UK) in 1993, spilling a maximum of 84,000 tonnes (607,300 barrels); the *Exxon Valdez* in Prince William Sound or Alaska (US), which was approximately 36,224 tonnes (261,904 barrels) [18]. Of the recorded oil spills, more than 80% were less than 1,000 tonnes (7,500 barrels) and only 5% were greater than 10,000 tonnes. An accepted average sample size of an oil spill is about 700 tonnes (5,061 barrels) [15]. Previous observations indicated that the number of large spills (>700 tonnes) has decreased significantly over the last 30 years (Table 1).


**Table 1.** Number of oil spills over 7 tonnes from 1970 to 2013 (http://www.itopf.com/stats.html).

During the 1990s, the average number of large spills per year was about a third of the amount that was witnessed during the 1970s. When looking at the quantities of oil spilled, it should be noted that 1, 133, 000, 213, 000 tonnes of oil were lost in the 1990s and 2000s, respectively. In a four-year period, 2010-2013, there were 22,000 tonnes of oil lost. Table 2 shows a brief summary of the top 22 major oil spills since 1967.


**Table 2.** Top 22 major oil spills since 1967 (http://www.itopf.com/stats.html).

The BP Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill on 20th April, 2010, initiated the discharge of more than 2.6 million gallons (over 800 million litres) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico (Figure 1) over approximately three months. This oil spill was the second largest in human history [19-21]. During the 1991 Gulf War, the deliberate release of over 6 million barrels of oil [22] into the marine environment was considered as the largest in history.

**Figure 1.** The Site of the Gulf Spill: Closed Areas as of 22nd October, 2010 [23].
