Oil in the sea

 1991 was a black year for the sea. Exactly a year before that date television screens all over the world showed a picture of a cormorant covered in oil.
This image became the symbol of the natural catastrophe in the Persian Gulf, and of oil used as a weapon with the capacity to cause large scale environmental destruction. The image of the cormorant was followed by equally shocking images of the fire which broke out on the oiltanker Hven, and of the colision of two other oil-tankers in the Mediterranean Sea.
These accidents are some of the latest in a long series ( in the following video there are other examples ). They have raised, yet again, the dramatic problem of the terrible damage which oil spills ineviatably cause.

One litre of crude oil will contaminate a million litres of water. In each accident hundreds of thousands of tons of crude oil are poured into the sea.
When oil is spilt in the sea it undergoes  a series of chemical transformatios which deal with part of the oil on the surface, but only a part. Hydrocarbons damage, both directly and indirectly, all living organisms in the sea, from the tiny crustaceans to the large mammals like whales.
Whole ecosystems are destroyed forever. Terrible damage is done to the communities of sea birds, and to the coasts.
The international community is attempting to deal with the emergency. Thousands of volunteers are at work, and some major industries have invested in the development of modern technology.
The latest strategy in the battle is the use of bacteria which "eat" crude oil. These bacteria transform hydrocarbons into fatty acids which are soluble.
These "sea cleaners" have been used last year, but environmental groups have been protesting at their use. They claim that the increase inalgae in our seas is due to these bacteria.
The damage done by crude oil to the seas and marine life is irreversible. There is an increasing need to examine the possibility of other sources of energy.