Oil Spills on Marine Environments part 2

I wrote about the topic, “What is the most effective way to protect marine environments from industrial disasters?”, in my previous blog because I have seen many pictures of sea birds harmed by oil spills. 

First of all, I have a question why the oil spill occurred and spread into the ocean. Normally, it should not happen. The majority of causes are oil spills from tankers. Accidentally, oil has been released by many tankers since the Terry Canyon released 119,000 tons in 1967.

On the other hand, it became clear from the media smaller oil spills from tankers which were generally unknown also occurred a decade earlier in 1957. Recently, BP Deepwater Horizon Macondo Well 4 released oil spills of 700,000 tons in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Those many oil spills disasters have damaged the marine environment for the long term.

Therefore, someone has to restore the ocean and the environment. National Ocean Services offers to do this in several ways, such as boom, skimmer or in-situ burning to remove the oil.

However, they leave chemicals in the ocean after cleaning and removing oil spills. Chemicals also harm the marine environment.

So, what is the most efficient way to restore the ocean? It is bioremediation, which use naturally present microorganisms to clean up oil spills. It makes uses of bacteria living in the ocean that actually “eat” the oil when it enters their natural habitat. Adding sulfate or nitrate fertilizers to the microorganism population causes them to multiply beyond their natural state and eat up the toxic metals invading their home at up to five times the rate that they would without assistance. Bioremediation is an efficient solution to clean up oil spills because it doesn’t destroy the surrounding marine environment.

I hope that there will be some more bioremediation solutions which don’t damage the marine environment, so I can do more research in the future on bioremediation for marine oil spills. 

Works Cite

Australian Maritime Safety Authority, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

"Effects Of Oil Spills On Wildlife." Congressional

Digest 89.6 (2010): 170-192. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

"Gulf Oil Spill." Smithsonian Ocean Portal. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

"Impact Of Oil Spills." Congressional Digest 89.6 (2010): 167-192. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

Response.restoration.noaa.gov." How Oil Harms Animals and Plants

in Marine Environments | Response.restoration.noaa.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015