The Davis Strait - DCE - Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi

indicates that similar long-term impacts must be expected in the assessment
area if spilled oil strands on the coasts.
Another indication of long-term effects was seen 17 months after the Prestige
oil spill off northern Spain in November 2002. Increased PAH levels
were found in both adult gulls and their nestlings, indicating not only exposure
from the residual oil in the environment, but also that contaminants
were incorporated into the food chain, because nestlings would only have
been exposed to contaminated organisms through their diet (e.g. fishes and
crustaceans) (Alonso-Alvarez et al. 2007, Perez et al. 2008).
11.2.10 Mitigation of oil spills
Risk of oil spills and their potential impact can be minimised with high HSE
standards, BAT, BEP and a high level of oil spill response. However, the latter
is difficult during winter due to harsh weather conditions and, in parts of
the assessment area, ice prevents effective oil recovery methods.
An important tool in oil spill response planning and implementation is oil
spill sensitivity mapping, which has been carried out in the assessment area
but should be updated (Mosbech et al. 2000). See also the following section,
11.3.
A supplementary way to mitigate the potential impact on animal populations
that are sensitive to oil spills, e.g. seabirds, fish and marine mammals,
is to try to manage populations by regulation of other population pressures
(such as hunting), so that they are fitter and better able to compensate for extra
mortality due to an oil spill.
Before activities are initiated, provision of information to local societies, both
on a regional and local scale, is very important. In the context of mitigating
impacts, information on activities potentially causing disturbance should be
communicated to e.g. local authorities and hunters’ organisations as hunters
may be impacted, for example, by the displacement of important quarry
species. Such information may help hunters and fishermen to plan their activities
accordingly.
11.3 Oil spill sensitivity mapping
The coast of the assessment area has been mapped according to its sensitivity
to oil spills (Mosbech et al. 2000). This atlas integrates all available
knowledge on coastal morphology, biology, resource use and archaeology. It
also classifies coastal segments of approx. 50 km in length according to their
sensitivity to marine oil spills. This classification is shown on map sheets,
and other map sheets show coastal type, logistics and proposed oil spill
countermeasure methods. Extensive descriptions of ice conditions, climate
and oceanography are also included.
An overview of the sensitivity classification of the coastlines in the assessment
area is shown in Figure 11.3.1. A large proportion of the coastline is
classified as highly or extremely sensitive to oil spills, especially in the central
and northern part of the assessment area. It should be noted that this
sensitivity atlas (Mosbech et al. 2000) was published 10 years ago and production
of an updated version which incorporate the new information is
recommended.
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