Oil Pollution and Its Effect on Wildlife
             "OIL POLLUTION AND ITS EFFECT ON WILDLIFE"
             Contamination of the oceans by oil spillage is not a rare occurrence.
             It is happening all over the world every day, fouling coastlines,
             killing animals and destroying fisheries.
             In 1987, more than 3.5 million tons of oil were released into the
             oceans around the world. Out of that only 28 percent of the spillage
             was accidental; the remaining 72 percent was deliberate, illegal
             The sources of oil spillage were:
             A lot of the illegal pollution is caused by cleaning of
             oil tanks at sea. After they are cleaned the tankers then
             dump the polluted water, mixed with all the oil residue,
             Blowouts occurring at oil well heads release huge amounts
             of oil and gas into the ocean. The drilling vessel IXTOTI
             released more than 400,000 tons of oil into the Gulf of
             mexico over a period of 9 months after its well exploded
             The most publicized of the oil spills are those caused by tanker
             accidents. There have been hundreds of accidents involving the
             spilling of million of tons of oil. Big oil spills, no matter
             what way they occur, reflect on the oil industry badly.
             The clean©up cost alone is enormous, and the amount of damages can
             be into the millions of dollars. Despite the clean©up efforts,
             once there is an oil spill, it cannot be prevented from causing
             major damage to wildlife and the environment.
             All the migrating seabirds like guillemots, puffins, and razorbills are
             at risk from oil pollution. During migration, they look for calm water
             where they rest and fish. Oil©covered seas look calm to bird
             ...