Environmental Implications of a Massive Oil Spill and

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  severely damaged by chronic oiling in thes~environments.

  In 1980, a 100,000 barrel oil spill from a broken pipeline off Ras Tanura
  impacted the coast of BaIrrain. No long term impacts on the shrimp
  harvest could be detected. During the No~z spill in 1983, fishing vessels
  in the region had nets and catch contaminated by oil, but no significant
  hydrocarbon residues were detected in the fish population.

  Kuwait itself has been spared major oil spills except for a 130,000 barrel
  spill that occurred at Mina AI-Ahmahdi South Pier in 1982. Dispersants
  were used and subsequent analysis showed increased hydrocarbon
  concentration in oysters. Shellfish, however, are not a common staple in
  the local die~


  12. What would be the long-term fate of a massive oil spill in this region?

  The marine environmental effects of a major spill in this region are not
  likely to be long term or irreversible. The long term effects of the
  Nowruz oil spill during the Than-Iraq war, one of the largest oil spills in
  history, appear to have been minimal. The area has been subject to more
  or less continuous small spills so that background oil pollution levels are
  high. A 1983 estimate of yearly oil spillage through normal operations
  was larger than the total amount spilled in the EXXON VALDEZ accident.
  Because the water is so shallow, the Gulf is flushed quite rapidly for a body
  of water of its surface area. The estimated flushing time~through the
  Straits of Hormuz is between two and six years:- Therefore, the residence
  time for any pollutant is much shorter than other comparable water bodies
  such as, for example, the Red Sea.

**The long term fate of a massive spill in Kuw~ait waters would be directly
  related to the ultimate distribution of the highly weathered tar balls that
  would form from the initial slick. The first effect would be that certain
  segments of the Kuwait, Saudi Arabian, Iranian, Bahrain and Qatar
  coastlines would receive oil impacts in the form of scattered tar balls.
  Highly likely targets would be the Southern Kuwait coastline, Abu Ali
  Island, northwestern BaIrrain and the northern tip of Qatar. In addition,
  tar mats could be expected to form along tens of miles of shoreline. The
  oil would be highly weathered and in a relatively non-active, non-toxic
  form. Mechanical cleanup of this oil would be relatively straightforward.


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