Page 10 - Assessment

10 D. Melaku Canu et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

Fig. 7. Oil slick risk along the Sicilian coastline considering the presence of coastal protected sites, in relation to all six release sites. The qualitative index describes relative
differences among the areas and seasons.

The hazard index is characterized by high variability, with the highest values again on Pantelleria and on some parts of the
higher values found along the southern Sicily coastline, where southern Sicilian coast) and again in autumn, when significant risk
most particles stranded (see Fig. 6). Seasonal variability is also rele- is present over extended parts of the north-eastern and southern
vant. As expected, the hazard of stranding increases with the Sicilian coast as well as Pantelleria Island.
length of the time window considered. In fact, the hazard index
is generally negligible in all coastal areas in the first 12 or 24 h,
with the notable exception of a few islands, including Pantelleria. 4. Discussion
Three days after a spill, the hazard is still negligible for most of
the coast under spring conditions but already significant in autumn The (worldwide) risk analysis by Eckle et al. (2012) shows a
and winter. The highest values are observed for 10-days spill dur- decreasing frequency over time of tanker spills, which equalled
ing the winter and autumn seasons. 6.6 spills/year in 2010. However, it also indicated increasing trends
for storage/refinery and pipeline spills, as well as for stationary
spills related to exploration/production, with a frequency value
3.3. Risk assessment index in 2010 of 0.54 spills/year.
There are currently several oil producing fields in the SCH, and
The information on oil spill hazards at the Sicilian coast has intensive explorations are being conducted throughout the area.
been used to evaluate the risk of an oil spill affecting specific areas. The presence of exploitative activities does not necessarily imply
This was accomplished by combining the spatial information on the occurrence of spill events. However, the probability of oil spill
the hazard and site-specific information on ecological sensitivity events cannot be considered to be zero despite advances in tech-
related to the presence of habitats with high conservation priori- nology and safety procedures. Therefore, it is important to put in
ties, such as Sites of Community Importance (SCI) and Special place efficient and cost-effective mitigation strategies as well as
Protection Areas (SPA). Coastal vulnerability is expressed using proper risk management plans.
the Ecological Sensitivity Index, ESI. Accidents relating to offshore oil and gas operations, in particu-
SCI and SPA are designed, respectively, under the EC Habitat lar the 2010 accident at the Deep Water Horizon, have raised pub-
(92/43/EEC) and Conservation of Wild Birds (2009/147/EC) lic awareness and prompted a review of EU policies aimed at
Directives to protect habitats and species considered to be of ensuring the safety of such operations. The outcome of this process
European interest. This analysis therefore assumes that the pres- was the enforcement of the 2013/30/EU Directive on the safety of
ence of oil slicks at one of these sites would cause a more severe offshore oil and gas operations. This Directive is meant to work in
disturbance from the perspective of nature conservation. synergy with the Directive 2008/56/EC, which addresses the cumu-
The risk of oil slick index RI at the coast for the 10-day scenario lative impacts from all activities on the marine environment. The
is presented in Fig. 7 for each season. The risk is low to medium in main goal of the 2013/30/EU Directive is to reduce and prevent
spring, with higher values at sites located on the north-eastern accidents by responding quickly to emergencies, thus improving
coast and on Pantelleria Island. Risk increases in summer, (with safety procedures. Studies on oil spill risk confirm the need for

Please cite this article in press as: Melaku Canu, D., et al. Assessment of oil slick hazard and risk at vulnerable coastal sites. Mar. Pollut. Bull. (2015), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.03.006