Overview Of Amoco Cadiz Oil Spill And Its Consequences

On March 16, 1978, the coast of Brittany, France, experienced the most devastating loss of oceanic life recorded after an oil spill at the time. The oil supertanker, Amoco Cadiz, initially left from the coast of Brittany to disembark at Lime Bay, Great Britain. However, during its journey, the tanker ran aground off the French coast on Portsall Rocks due to a steering gear failure, splitting into three and sinking into the sea. This ultimately caused “the entire cargo of 223,000 tonnes of light Iranian and Arabian crude oil and 4,000 tonnes of bunker fuel” (ITOPF) to be released into the ocean over the course of two weeks. Due to the location of the spill, the seas of this area also formed water-in-oil emulsion, which drastically increased the volume of the pollutants. In addition, “during the first week heavy pollution was spread by strong winds, waves, and currents along 140 km of highly dissected coastline to the east of Portsall”.

By the close of April, oil and emulsion had polluted approximately 320 km of coastline, even reaching the Channel Islands. Pollution from this spill had many consequences on marine and coastal communities. The rapid spread of oil over the course of two weeks resulted in the contamination of various shore types, including saltmarshes, shingle shores, rocks, seawalls, sandy beaches, mud flats, and cobble shores. Species such as “bivalves, periwinkles, limpets, peracarid crustaceans, heart urchins and sea birds were the most severely affected”. Millions of coastal and marine species began to wash ashore two weeks after the incident, and according to an article by Conan, an approximate 20,000 dead seabirds were recovered. Other marine species such as mullets and estuarine flatfishes endured fin rot disease from the oil spill, which largely degraded their population. Nevertheless, in an article by Chasse, it was determined that the limpets and periwinkles experienced the most serious effects from the spill. The largest recorded mortalities were found within a 5 km radius around the spill, in addition to areas where oil had been dispersed on the coasts by the wind. Such distant areas that were polluted by oil from the wind include, “Aber Benoît, Aber Wrac'h, Roscoff, Trebeurden, St Efflam”. The impact of this oil spill on the French coastline was and is still apparent years after the incident, as the majority of the oil that had washed ashore became encased within the sediments of low energy areas, such as estuaries, salt marshes, and along beaches. Some of the areas that appear to have endured the most long term damage after the spill include “the beach of St Efflam, the Bay of Morlaix at Pierres Noires, the Aber-Benoît and Aber-Wrac'h estuaries and the Île Grande Salt marsh” as they are still polluted with Amoco oil today. Based on the research conducted by Conan, vegetation cover specifically within Île Grande’s salt marshes have been severely damaged by the lingering oil, and it appears that “such damage seems to be irreversible”. Along with the ecology area, the economic standing of Brittany, France, and surrounding French communities after this incident were affected by the spill as they had always relied heavily on their fishing industries and tourism for income.

The fisheries that were most affected include the shell and fin fisheries, and “Oyster culture alone [had] been badly damaged. ”, specifically within estuaries. However, this spill had mainly a short term effect on the French communities economy and tourism, as within a few years local industries were able to rebound from this incident. After a three and a half year trial, the Amoco Corporation Production Company was ruled guilty of the spill by a district court of negligence due to Amocos unwillingness to remove the supertanker from the water to properly repair its steering gear issues that had been apparent since 1974. It was also found that “while Astilleros, the Spanish shipbuilder, agreed to repair or replace any defects. . . Amoco took a cash credit in lieu of repair”. Based on the rulings, it was apparent that the oil company deliberately put the safety of their workers, local marine life, and communities they were passing through at risk out of greed. This wreck could have been easily preventable if the oil company simply invested in the necessary maintenance that was required of their vessel as well as the proper safety training of their crew. Overall, the outcome of this oil spill was the loss of millions of marine life and damage to the local ecosystem as well as an increase in concern towards preventative action and the cleaning process of oil spills. Due to the spills monumental impact on the ecological, economic, and social standing of this European community, it was learned that oil companies need to take more precautions with transporting their oil and that there needs to be more effective ways of cleaning such spills.

Following the incident, the European Council and the Council of Ministers of the European Communities met in Copenhagen where they set forth proposals regarding the threat of pollution by ships in June and November of 1978. One proposal focused on “the development of research programmes on chemical and mechanical devices for the clean-up of oil spills, and on the effects of hydrocarbons in the marine environment”. Despite this, cleanup methods today are still being researched to find the most efficient solution, and current preventative action for oil spills remain ineffective and time consuming.