Saturday, August 19, 2006

Large oil spill in Indian Ocean

Oil fouled the Indian Ocean near Nicobar Island, after a Japanese tanker collided with a cargo ship.

The area was already reeling from the devastating tsunami of 2004 that swept the region with catastrophic loss of life.

The oil spill was about 300 miles offshore, which may be far enough to keep the oil from contaminating the rich nearshore ocean ecosystems of the islands in the region.

In a separate spill, a tanker sank off one of the Philippine Islands, leading to an officially declared "state of calamity" and the potential for an "environmental catastrophe.

Oil consumption has direct effects on oceans, in addition to the indirect effects of CO2 increase, acidification, and perhaps warming-linked plankton changes leading to starvation or hypoxia.

Yikes, what's an ocean to do?

1 comment:

gate valves said...

oil spills can really damage a huge number of marine life. Tremendous effort should be done to clean it up. what can an ocean do indeed...