**5. Communities at risk of marine oil spills/anticipation and preparation**

The threatening of marine environments with the petroleum oil spills has caught the attention of many communities, encouraging them to develop their own plans and policy issues. These have ranged from permitting or prohibiting increased oil transport volumes, to developing the capacity to respond to and recover from potential spill disasters.

A comprehensive literature review was conducted by [101], who covered 300 academic, governments and industry papers and reports relating to oil spills and their environmental and societal consequences, with emphasis on economic impacts. Reference [14], in their report of the 'Consequences of Oil Spills from Tanker Accidents', provided a review and structured framework that supports the efforts of such communities to anticipate the spectrum of issues, factors, stakeholders and strategies that may be involved. The review presented an initial and important input into the larger process of addressing the risk of oil spill disasters. The research was based on two premises. The first was that, although previous disasters provide an essential information source for anticipating future events, not all lessons may be transferrable across locales and the key to successful planning and learning from experience is that it be based on systematic assessment activities' [102]. The second premise was that developing realistic expectations of oil spill consequences requires an understanding of the full range of impacts and interactions within and across the affected systems. These include the marine ecosystems and socioeconomic systems.

The purpose of the summary literature review and overview framework provided by [14] was to help communities systematically consider the factors and linkages that would influence consequences of a potential oil spill. Studying previous oil spill disasters has assisted com‐ munities to focus on several main domains of interest. These include the nature of the oil spill itself, how to manage the disaster, the physical marine environment, marine biology, human health, economy and policy. Key factors that influence the severity of the impact were identified and significant interactions between variables were recognized. By using this framework, it is suggested that communities can clarify the complexity of oil spill impacts, develop experience for planning from other oil spill disasters and develop the capacity to respond to and recover from potential spill disasters. Furthermore, such a framework encour‐ ages debates about risk analysis and policy to understand and reduce the susceptibility of their localities to potential spill disasters. The investigators concluded that a comprehensive overview can help clarify the complexity of oil spill disasters, make comparisons across events, identify data gaps and develop planning scenarios in preparation for future oil spill disasters.

Local communities that depend on the fishing industry, aquaculture and tourism should realize that the impact of an oil spill is governed by complex factors. These include the oil spill's volume and location relative to fishing/cultivation areas, currents, tides and wave action. Other factors include whether species harvested in the region are sedentary or mobile, as well as government decisions relating to fishing bans and compensation schemes.
