But the presence of the oil industry has significant social and environmental impacts, both from accidents and from routine activities like seismic exploration, drilling and the generation of polluting wastes. Long-term damage Coral reefs are also severely affected. Rich in biodiversity and vital for sustaining local fisheries, they resist erosion and storms and stabilize coasts, especially in low-lying tropical areas. But they take decades to recover from an oil spill. The rate of photosynthesis in plant life is reduced, becoming a chronic problem in reefs exposed to a high level of pollution.
Oil also alters the composition of species in the reef habitat.
For example, the greater body area of branching corals leads to a greater absorption of oil, and thus a relatively higher mortality rate than among other species. Mangroves are also very important to society, the economy and ecology as habitats for many fish and molluscs and a source of raw materials for communities in the surrounding area. And they, too, are affected by the oil industry. Its activities interrupt the flow of both freshwater and seawater into mangroves and within them, affecting drainage patterns, plant life and the soil, and causing a general lack of stability. Results include large-scale erosion, death of plant life, stunting of seedlings, suffocation and poisoning of anchoring roots, and a reduction in absorptive ones.