The flora and fauna of rock pools on the shore are oftenparticularly diverse. Permanent submergence allows speciesintolerant of desiccation to live within pools on the shore. Various coastal birds feed on rocky shores at low tide. Athigh tide, their place is taken by coastal fish. In fact, the overall ecology of the region is muchbetter understood than has been the case for other areasaffected by major oil spills.
Rocky shores vary in their sensitivity to oil pollution.
Survivorship of shore life on wave-exposed shores is likely tobe higher than that upon sheltered rocky shores. In the few weeks since the Sea Empress oil spill took place,some exposed shores close to the scene of the grounding appearto have improved substantially, with most of the oil dispersedand a high level of apparent survivorship of shore life. However, the same is not true for more sheltered and moreheavily oiled shores, where mass-mortalities of limpets andother species have been observed, and where much oil stillpersists. However, meticulous long-term monitoring will beneeded to evaluate the full impact of this major pollutionevent. 1996-2000 P.E.J.Dyrynda and R.C.Symberlist.