- Email: [email protected]
Oman survey
Marine Pollution Bulletin Sanivan of Quebec, contracted by CCG to carry out the clean-up operations, recovered 25 000 gallons of oil. About 1000 gallons is believed to have reached the St Lawrence although three overflights revealed no slicks. Environmentalists feared that the oil could pose a threat to the snow geese which migrate through the area but the CCG say that none of the 200 000 birds gathered at Cape Tourmente 48 km downstream from the spill site were impacted and no other animals or fish were affected by it.
Norwegian View of Blow-outs A report on the various methods of well control and spill response preparedness has claimed, among other things, that many blow-out safety devices actually increase the risk from the blow-out. The report "Offshore Blowout Control" has been prepared by a consortium of Norwegian companies and organizations and as well as discussing the efficiency, in most cases, theoretical, o f blow-out counter-measures, their cost and risk-reducing potential, also reviews the probability of offshore blow-outs occurring on the Norwegian continental shelf. Funding for the report came from Statoil, the Norwegian Industry Association for Operating Companies and the Norwegian Oil Pollution Control, Research and Development Programme. A section on the effectiveness and feasibility of prototype safety devices designed to reduce blow-out risks and to minimize blow-out consequences prepared by the Central Institute for Industrial Research found that many of the blow-out safety devices actually increased the risk from a blow-out by increasing the difficulty in permanently plugging or repairing the well, by requiring an unconventional and therefore indeterminately safe well design, or by reducing the chance of successfully using well-established blow-out measures. The Institute surveyed blow-out incidents on the US OCS and found that 77°70 of the drilling blow-outs and 24o7o of the production phase blow-outs there passively stopped as a result of gas pocket depletion or bore-hole collapse. The most frequent active methods for stopping blow-outs on the US OCS were pumping mud from the surface, capping and drilling relief wells; the first two the Institute concluded, more effective than the last because they can be completed in less time and at lower cost. Advantages and disadvantages of various groups of devices to collect oil from uncontrolled underwater blowouts was prepared for the report by the Norwegian Hydrodynamic Laboratories and the Foundation of Scientific and Industrial Research, and there are also sections on offshore blow-out probability assessments, blow-out consequences and cost-benefit evaluations of alternative pollution control devices. The study is available as Report No. STF 88-A 1004 from Otter Group, N-7034 Trondheim-NTH, Norway.
Oil Pollution Training The next Institute of Petroleum/Warren Spring Laboratory oil pollution course which provides both practical and theoretical training in oil spill control technology will be held 396
from 10 to 14 May 1982. Further details of the course, at the Copdock Hol~el, Ipswich, England, can be obtained from Miss Irene McCann, Institute of Petroleum, 61 New Cavendish Street, London WIN 8AR.
Using Coastal Ecosystems An international symposium to gather and synthesize recent information on the effects of industrial and urban growth and exploitation of natural resources and aquaculture in estuaries, coastal lagoons and the continental shelf designed to encourage effective management of the environments will be held in Rio Grande, Brazil, next year. "Utilization of Coastal Ecosystems: Planning Pollution and Productivity" is being organized by Duke University Marine Laboratory and the Fundacao Universidade do Rio Grande from 22 to 27 November 1982. The official languages of the symposium, sponsored principally by the Brazilian National Council on the Development of Research and Technology and UNESCO regional office, are English, Portugese and Spanish. Dr John D. Costlow of Duke University will preside over the Symposium. Further details from the Secretary General, Dr Labbish Ning Chao, Local Committee of the International Symposium, Universidade do Rio Grande, Caixa Postal 474, 96200 Rio Grande, RS, Brazil.
WWF Research Whales The first benign research of the sperm whale has just been started in the Indian Ocean. The three year study aboard a 10m sloop is the first of some twenty proposed projects funded by the World Wildlife Fund which are aimed at investigating the population levels, ecology and behaviour of the 43 cetacean species found in the ocean. The research programme is the result of a meeting of 36 of the world's leading whale experts from 14 countries held in the Netherlands this autumn. The benign research, which does not disturb the animals, will be one of the first behavioural studies attempted on sperm whales, almost all previous research having been done on dead animals. The sloop, captained by biologist Hal Whitehead, who carried out a similar study on humpback whales in the West Indies, will enable the researchers to stay with a community of sperm whales for the first time for an extended period. The Indian Ocean was created a sanctuary two years ago as a result of an International Whaling Commission decision to prohibit whaling there for ten years.
Oman Survey A team of scientists from the Lockheed Ocean Science Laboratory (LOSL) has been working with Oman's Council for Conservation of the Environment and Prevention of Pollution to establish pollution standards for the country. Researchers from LOSL, a division of the Lockheed Missile and Space Co. in Sunnyvale, California, carried out a 35-day survey of existing and potential industrial sites in Oman before advising the council on national environmental protection regulations. The survey, which established levels of known pollutants at the sites and compared them with levels in areas of the
Volume 12/Number 12/December1981 world with similar types of industries, also included evaluations of potential environmental impacts from Oman's continuing industrialization and suggested ways of mitigating the impact. The interim standards will remain in effect until further study enables the council to produce more permanent ones. Meanwhile the Exxon Corporation has awarded a contract for research into the impact of Corexit 9527 and dispersed light Arabian crude oil on corals in the Arabian Gulf. Environmental Science and Engineering Inc. (ESE), who are carrying out the research, have already conducted an initial field experiment for the project off Juraud Island near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, exposing the coral to dispersant, oil and dispersant/oil mixtures within enclosures constructed of Nordan boom fitted with vinyl skirts. The corals will be monitored over the next year.
Baffin Island Experimental Oil Spill Contracts were recently awarded by Environment Canada to continue the Baffin Island spill project started last summer which is examining the impact of dispersant-treated and untreated oil on the Arctic environment. In August researchers generated two oil spills containing 15 m 3 of crude oil at two locations on the Northwest Territories island. The oil, which was artificially weathered, was pumped through a four-inch perforated aluminium pipe designed to discharge the mixture in a concentration of one to ten parts per million along the bottom of the offshore study area. Following the awarding of its $307 732 contract,.Seakem Oceanography Ltd of Sidney, British Columbia, renewed its study on the hydrocarbon content of benthic organisms and sediments following an oil spill treated or untreated. Its scientists collected sediment, tissue and water samples at several depths which were then analysed for quantity and type of petroleum components by Energy Resources Co. of Cambridge, Mass. In addition Woodward-Clyde Consultants of Victoria, BC, continued its study of the natural processes of habitat recovery with a $65 000 contract to resample and resurvey its test plots and establish a series of new ones covered with either a one-centimetre thick layer of crude oil or a twocentimetre thick layer of mousse. The sites have been used to test several oil spill countermeasures suitable for Arctic environments including burning the emulsified and non-emulsified oil on site, using a rototiller to mix mechanically the oil layers with the substrate, thereby taking the oil out of the path of birds and animals while creating an aerated mixture to enhance microbial degradation, and using low-pressure jets of water mixed with various dispersants to flush the spilled oil into the ocean. The company plans to analyse both the effectiveness of the countermeasures in removing the oil and the long-term
fate of the oil itself. Other new BIOS contracts awarded at the same time include studies on oceanography, microbiology and benthic biology. Further information from Peter Blackall, BIOS Project, Room 804,9942 108th Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5K 2J5.
Nylon Thread Pollution Two scientists, A. Bouain and Y. Siau of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Sfax in Tunisia, have discovered a mysterious form of pollution in the Mediterranean. Writing in a recent issue of P~cheMaritime, they say that in some groupers belonging to the genus Epinephelus living along the East Tunisian Mediterranean coasts, they observed that the ovaries contained nylon threads which were about 2 cm long and 2 mm wide. Like spines, they had been eaten by groupers and had penetrated through the gut and into the gonads. There was no histological response of tissues to the nylon threads, and no traces of infection were detected. The penetration of nylon threads into the gonads seems only to occur in mature groupers, because of the volume occupied by the gonads which squeeze the digestive tract. Multiple observations of this phenomenon show an unsuspected incidence of the pollution by man in the seas. It is likely that nylon in gonads will disturb their function, certainly, at least, by reducing their fecundity. As all the nylon threads were red, they looked like worms to fishes, and it is possible that either the groupers ate them directly or that they ate some fish that had previously eaten nylon threads. So, a new form of marine pollution has been shown up, and carnivorous fishes are very susceptible to it.
Drifting Tankers New data on the problems associated with the drifting and towing of disabled tankers is available in a report just published by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF). Studies for the 250 page report took as their starting point a review of casualties involving freely-drifting disabled tankers which suggested there was much to be learned about the behaviour of such vessels under the influence of winds, waves and currents. The British National Maritime Institute (NMI) carried out intensive model-testing with free-floating and tethered models and the report contains nine main conclusions covering such aspects as turning characteristics when applying initial towing forces at right angles and single tow at either bow or stern, the benefits of headway, the use of limited shipboard power, drift rates in ballast and in loaded condition and the effect of the angle of a jammed rudder. The report, entitled "Disabled Tankers: Report of Studies on Ship Drift and Towage" and published in hardback book form, costs £45 and is available from Witherby and Co. Ltd, 32/36 Aylesbury Street, London ECIROET.
397
Norwegian View of Blow-outs A report on the various methods of well control and spill response preparedness has claimed, among other things, that many blow-out safety devices actually increase the risk from the blow-out. The report "Offshore Blowout Control" has been prepared by a consortium of Norwegian companies and organizations and as well as discussing the efficiency, in most cases, theoretical, o f blow-out counter-measures, their cost and risk-reducing potential, also reviews the probability of offshore blow-outs occurring on the Norwegian continental shelf. Funding for the report came from Statoil, the Norwegian Industry Association for Operating Companies and the Norwegian Oil Pollution Control, Research and Development Programme. A section on the effectiveness and feasibility of prototype safety devices designed to reduce blow-out risks and to minimize blow-out consequences prepared by the Central Institute for Industrial Research found that many of the blow-out safety devices actually increased the risk from a blow-out by increasing the difficulty in permanently plugging or repairing the well, by requiring an unconventional and therefore indeterminately safe well design, or by reducing the chance of successfully using well-established blow-out measures. The Institute surveyed blow-out incidents on the US OCS and found that 77°70 of the drilling blow-outs and 24o7o of the production phase blow-outs there passively stopped as a result of gas pocket depletion or bore-hole collapse. The most frequent active methods for stopping blow-outs on the US OCS were pumping mud from the surface, capping and drilling relief wells; the first two the Institute concluded, more effective than the last because they can be completed in less time and at lower cost. Advantages and disadvantages of various groups of devices to collect oil from uncontrolled underwater blowouts was prepared for the report by the Norwegian Hydrodynamic Laboratories and the Foundation of Scientific and Industrial Research, and there are also sections on offshore blow-out probability assessments, blow-out consequences and cost-benefit evaluations of alternative pollution control devices. The study is available as Report No. STF 88-A 1004 from Otter Group, N-7034 Trondheim-NTH, Norway.
Oil Pollution Training The next Institute of Petroleum/Warren Spring Laboratory oil pollution course which provides both practical and theoretical training in oil spill control technology will be held 396
from 10 to 14 May 1982. Further details of the course, at the Copdock Hol~el, Ipswich, England, can be obtained from Miss Irene McCann, Institute of Petroleum, 61 New Cavendish Street, London WIN 8AR.
Using Coastal Ecosystems An international symposium to gather and synthesize recent information on the effects of industrial and urban growth and exploitation of natural resources and aquaculture in estuaries, coastal lagoons and the continental shelf designed to encourage effective management of the environments will be held in Rio Grande, Brazil, next year. "Utilization of Coastal Ecosystems: Planning Pollution and Productivity" is being organized by Duke University Marine Laboratory and the Fundacao Universidade do Rio Grande from 22 to 27 November 1982. The official languages of the symposium, sponsored principally by the Brazilian National Council on the Development of Research and Technology and UNESCO regional office, are English, Portugese and Spanish. Dr John D. Costlow of Duke University will preside over the Symposium. Further details from the Secretary General, Dr Labbish Ning Chao, Local Committee of the International Symposium, Universidade do Rio Grande, Caixa Postal 474, 96200 Rio Grande, RS, Brazil.
WWF Research Whales The first benign research of the sperm whale has just been started in the Indian Ocean. The three year study aboard a 10m sloop is the first of some twenty proposed projects funded by the World Wildlife Fund which are aimed at investigating the population levels, ecology and behaviour of the 43 cetacean species found in the ocean. The research programme is the result of a meeting of 36 of the world's leading whale experts from 14 countries held in the Netherlands this autumn. The benign research, which does not disturb the animals, will be one of the first behavioural studies attempted on sperm whales, almost all previous research having been done on dead animals. The sloop, captained by biologist Hal Whitehead, who carried out a similar study on humpback whales in the West Indies, will enable the researchers to stay with a community of sperm whales for the first time for an extended period. The Indian Ocean was created a sanctuary two years ago as a result of an International Whaling Commission decision to prohibit whaling there for ten years.
Oman Survey A team of scientists from the Lockheed Ocean Science Laboratory (LOSL) has been working with Oman's Council for Conservation of the Environment and Prevention of Pollution to establish pollution standards for the country. Researchers from LOSL, a division of the Lockheed Missile and Space Co. in Sunnyvale, California, carried out a 35-day survey of existing and potential industrial sites in Oman before advising the council on national environmental protection regulations. The survey, which established levels of known pollutants at the sites and compared them with levels in areas of the
Volume 12/Number 12/December1981 world with similar types of industries, also included evaluations of potential environmental impacts from Oman's continuing industrialization and suggested ways of mitigating the impact. The interim standards will remain in effect until further study enables the council to produce more permanent ones. Meanwhile the Exxon Corporation has awarded a contract for research into the impact of Corexit 9527 and dispersed light Arabian crude oil on corals in the Arabian Gulf. Environmental Science and Engineering Inc. (ESE), who are carrying out the research, have already conducted an initial field experiment for the project off Juraud Island near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, exposing the coral to dispersant, oil and dispersant/oil mixtures within enclosures constructed of Nordan boom fitted with vinyl skirts. The corals will be monitored over the next year.
Baffin Island Experimental Oil Spill Contracts were recently awarded by Environment Canada to continue the Baffin Island spill project started last summer which is examining the impact of dispersant-treated and untreated oil on the Arctic environment. In August researchers generated two oil spills containing 15 m 3 of crude oil at two locations on the Northwest Territories island. The oil, which was artificially weathered, was pumped through a four-inch perforated aluminium pipe designed to discharge the mixture in a concentration of one to ten parts per million along the bottom of the offshore study area. Following the awarding of its $307 732 contract,.Seakem Oceanography Ltd of Sidney, British Columbia, renewed its study on the hydrocarbon content of benthic organisms and sediments following an oil spill treated or untreated. Its scientists collected sediment, tissue and water samples at several depths which were then analysed for quantity and type of petroleum components by Energy Resources Co. of Cambridge, Mass. In addition Woodward-Clyde Consultants of Victoria, BC, continued its study of the natural processes of habitat recovery with a $65 000 contract to resample and resurvey its test plots and establish a series of new ones covered with either a one-centimetre thick layer of crude oil or a twocentimetre thick layer of mousse. The sites have been used to test several oil spill countermeasures suitable for Arctic environments including burning the emulsified and non-emulsified oil on site, using a rototiller to mix mechanically the oil layers with the substrate, thereby taking the oil out of the path of birds and animals while creating an aerated mixture to enhance microbial degradation, and using low-pressure jets of water mixed with various dispersants to flush the spilled oil into the ocean. The company plans to analyse both the effectiveness of the countermeasures in removing the oil and the long-term
fate of the oil itself. Other new BIOS contracts awarded at the same time include studies on oceanography, microbiology and benthic biology. Further information from Peter Blackall, BIOS Project, Room 804,9942 108th Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5K 2J5.
Nylon Thread Pollution Two scientists, A. Bouain and Y. Siau of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Sfax in Tunisia, have discovered a mysterious form of pollution in the Mediterranean. Writing in a recent issue of P~cheMaritime, they say that in some groupers belonging to the genus Epinephelus living along the East Tunisian Mediterranean coasts, they observed that the ovaries contained nylon threads which were about 2 cm long and 2 mm wide. Like spines, they had been eaten by groupers and had penetrated through the gut and into the gonads. There was no histological response of tissues to the nylon threads, and no traces of infection were detected. The penetration of nylon threads into the gonads seems only to occur in mature groupers, because of the volume occupied by the gonads which squeeze the digestive tract. Multiple observations of this phenomenon show an unsuspected incidence of the pollution by man in the seas. It is likely that nylon in gonads will disturb their function, certainly, at least, by reducing their fecundity. As all the nylon threads were red, they looked like worms to fishes, and it is possible that either the groupers ate them directly or that they ate some fish that had previously eaten nylon threads. So, a new form of marine pollution has been shown up, and carnivorous fishes are very susceptible to it.
Drifting Tankers New data on the problems associated with the drifting and towing of disabled tankers is available in a report just published by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF). Studies for the 250 page report took as their starting point a review of casualties involving freely-drifting disabled tankers which suggested there was much to be learned about the behaviour of such vessels under the influence of winds, waves and currents. The British National Maritime Institute (NMI) carried out intensive model-testing with free-floating and tethered models and the report contains nine main conclusions covering such aspects as turning characteristics when applying initial towing forces at right angles and single tow at either bow or stern, the benefits of headway, the use of limited shipboard power, drift rates in ballast and in loaded condition and the effect of the angle of a jammed rudder. The report, entitled "Disabled Tankers: Report of Studies on Ship Drift and Towage" and published in hardback book form, costs £45 and is available from Witherby and Co. Ltd, 32/36 Aylesbury Street, London ECIROET.
397