From: mtaghavi@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Amir Taghavi)
Subject: Gulf War oil pollution less severe than thought
Keywords: Persian Gulf
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 14:40:55 GMT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Scientists have found that pollution damage from
the massive spill of Kuwaiti oil and the fires set by fleeing Iraqi
troops during the Gulf War last year apparently has been less than
expected.
	Marine biologists from the International Atomic Energy Agency
conducted a study of oil deposits, marine animals and other parts of the
Persian Gulf ecosystem. Although they found considerable evidence of oil
beneath the shoreline sands, the Gulf waters and sea bed were not
severely contaminated.
	As much as 8 million barrels of oil spilled into the Persian Gulf
from the Sea Island terminal in Kuwait during the war. Another 500
million barrels burned after wells were ignited by Iraqi troops
retreating from Kuwait, spewing gases, soot, toxic gases and other
products which later were deposited on the ground or waters.
	While dire predictions about the environmental damage were made
during and shortly after the war, the researchers concluded Wednesday: 
``...severe oil pollution was restricted primarily to the Saudi Arabian
coastline within (about a quarter mile) from the spillages...''
	Samples of clams and sediment off the coast of Bahrain, in fact, were
found to contain less pollution from oil than in samples taken between
1983 and 1986, the scientists reported in the British journal Nature, a
finding they attributed to reduced tanker traffic due to the conflict.
	``I was personally surprised,'' said study co-author Scott Fowler, a
marine biologist. ``I think there was a general belief the pollution was
more widespread than it turned out to be.''
	Fowler said although many animals and plants were hurt by the oil, he
had not seen evidence of severe damage to the Gulf ecosystem.
	``There obviously were deaths of coastal marine organisms where the
oil came ashore, but we've seen a general recovery,'' he said by
telephone from Monaco.
	Samples of various native Gulf species of plants, fish and shellfish
were taken three times between June and October 1991. They were analyzed
and compared to samples taken during previous Gulf studies.
	Among other findings, the scientists said deposits of hydrocarbon
particles from the burning oil, including toxic and cancer-causing
elements, were no higher than off the coasts of New York and
Massachusetts.
	``Indeed the median value for the Gulf sediments is lower than that
for a survey of similar scope and sediment type in the southern Baltic
sea,'' the study said.
	John Robinson, director of the Gulf Program Office of the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said his observations
in the Persian Gulf also found little evidence of major, long-term
damage.
	``We stopped at 115 places and took samples from the bottom (of the
Gulf.) Visually, they appear to be in pretty good shape,'' Robinson
said. ``Only in one place did we identify visible oil in the sample.
Undoubtedly there will be trace levels but visually there was nothing.''
	However, Robinson said the most severe damage appeared to be on the
shore between the high-tide and low-tide marks, where oil has deposited
deep into the sand, in many cases flowing especially deep through
burrows dug by crabs.
	``The crabs that occupied those burrows were killed, and, as the oil
spread sideways, everything else was killed too,'' he said, adding that
it will be a long time before the area fully recovers.
	The oil deposits beneath the sand have cut off food supplies of
worms, crabs and other organizms on which many birds depend, Robinson
said.
	Both Robinson and Fowler said natural land barriers controlled the
Kuwaiti oil spill from flowing more than about 300 miles and restricted
damage primarily to the Persian Gulf near Saudi Arabia. Robinson said
this was a sharp contrast to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in the
Prince William Sound off the Alaskan coast, which spewed oil some 1,000
miles.


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