Publication Abstract

The impact of the Sea Empress oil spill

R.J. Law and C. Kelly

The tanker Sea Empress grounded at the entrance to Milford Haven in February 1996, releasing 72,000 tonnes of Forties blend crude oil and 480 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the waters of southwest Wales. The at-sea response included the aerial application of 445 tonnes of chemical oil dispersant in order to enhance the rate of natural dispersion of the oil. A fishing exclusion zone was established to protect consumers of fish and shellfish, and monitoring was instigated in order to establish the degree and spread of contamination. A wide range of further studies were conducted with the aim of assessing the overall impact of the spill. In this paper we report on the establishment and subsequent lifting of fishing restrictions, the results of the fish and shellfish monitoring programme, and of a range of biological effects techniques which illustrated sublethal impacts. In retrospect, the impact of the spill was much less than would have been expected from the quantity of oil spilled. This was due to the circumstances of the spill, which led to fresh oil, amenable to chemical dispersion, being released during each ebb tide and carried into deep water to the south of Milford Haven. This enabled the extensive dispersant spraying operation, which prevented an additional 57,000 to 110,000 tones of emulsified oil from impacting the beaches.

Reference:

R.J. Law and C. Kelly (2004) The impact of the Sea Empress oil spill. Aquatic Living Resources, 17: 389-394