"... thousands of tons of fuel have been picked up, but we continue to wait for the arrival of new slicks. Until today, the oil has not entered into the Rías, but they have only been saved so far by the good weather of the last four days, by the wind, by the islands located in the mouth of each one of the Rías, and by the work of the fishermen that have removed more than 1,400 tons of oil with their ships and using all types of equipment that you can imagine ..." (Galicia, Spain, 2002)
SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECTS

Fisheries and aquaculture

An oil spill can have a number of direct and indirect effects on fisheries.

Valuable fishing and shellfish areas may be closed for fishing for shorter or longer periods because of the risks of the catch being tainted by oil. Concentrations of petroleum contaminants in fish and crab tissue, as well as contamination of shellfish, could pose a significant potential for adverse human health effects, and until these products from nearshore fisheries or aquaculture have been cleared by the health authorities, they could be banned from human consumption. Indirectly, the fisheries sector will suffer a heavy loss if consumers are either stopped from using or unwilling to buy fish and shellfish from the region affected by the spill. As concluded by the Third R&D Forum on high-density oil response (2002), "sunken heavy fuel oil may have significant impact on seabed resources and fishing and mariculture activities".

Boats and gear may be directly damaged by an oil spill. Floating and fixed equipment extending above the sea surface are the ones most likely to be smeared.

Tourism and recreation

It goes without saying that contamination of the shoreline with oils is a common characteristic of many oil spills, and when attractive coastal beaches and resorts are affected the costs could be high as it may seriously restrict such recreational activities as bathing, boating, angling and diving for shorter or longer periods of time. As a result, hotel and restaurant owners, and others who have their income from recreational activities in the coastal zone — boat renters, diving tour operators, angling tour operators and many more — may suffer significant economic losses.

Industry

Many industries are depending on clean water, e.g., for cooling purposes in nuclear, other power plants and desalination plants. The facilities can be negatively affected if the risk getting oil into their water intakes. The result may be contamination of piping systems which in turn may require that the plant is shut down while cleaning is carried out.

EFFECTS ON HUMAN HEALTH

People's health could be adversely affected by oils either when inhaling or touching oil products, or when eating contaminated sea food.

When cleaning up oil products from the water surface or the shoreline, one must always take certain precautions. One needs to wear a face mask or filter mask be protected from inhaling vapours from oils. One also needs to use protective clothing to avoid getting in skin contact with the oil — and protective clothing means oil- and waterproof gloves and oil- and waterproof clothes that cover at least the front of one's body, as well as strong rubber boots. The same safety precautions, in principle, apply to people who risk coming into contact with lingering oil on beaches — one should always avoid touching it, and in an acute phase one should be careful not to inhale vapours from oil slicks.

As mentioned above, concentrations of petroleum contaminants in fish and crab tissue, as well as contamination of shellfish, could pose a significant potential for adverse human health effects, and until these products from nearshore fisheries or aquaculture have been cleared by the health authorities, they could be banned from human consumption. However, oil-tainted fish and shellfish will usually taste bad, and that in itself will keep people from eating these products.


The information above has been compiled from several sources, where socio-economic effects and health effects of oil spills are addressed in brief, as one of many issues.