Marine Oil Spills

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Marine Oil Spills

With the massive Persian Gulf War oil spill of January 1991 and the Exxon Valdez spill of March 1989, public attention focused on this recurring environmental disaster. Are such massive oil spills more common today, and just how damaging are these spills to the environment?
Oil spills are nothing new. The recent Persian Gulf oil well spill, last estimated at 68 million gallons by the International Maritime Organization, may be smaller than a 1983 oil spill in the Gulf of approximately 80 million gallons that occurred during the Iran Iraq War. The largest spill yet occurred in 1979 when about 147 million gallons of oil gushed from an offshore well platform in the Gulf of Mexico. In comparison, the Exxon Valdez tanker spill, although considered massive, totaled only about 7.5 percent of this amount or 11 million gallons.
Worldwide, the general trend may be improving or. Data from the Oil Spill Intelligence Report, which tracks oil spills worldwide, show a decline in the total volume of oil spilled from 1978 through 1980 compared to 1981 through 1990. The number of mega spills (greater than 10 million gallons) has also decreased, with 15 reported during the first 3 years that data were kept, and only 11 reported during the remaining 10 years. In U.S. waters, Coast Guard data on oil spills from 1970-1986 show no clear increase or decrease in the number of spills, and the volume spilled remains constant.
However, there are many sources of oil pollution in the ocean other than tanker and oil rig accidents, which account for about 12.5 and 1.5 percent of all spilled oil worldwide, according to a 1985 report from the National Academy of Sciences. Many might be surprised to find that human activity on the land and natural seeps are sources of ocean oil pollution; municipal and industrial waste discharge and runoff account for about 37 percent and natural sources almost 8 percent of the total of oil spilled into the oc...