The dumped sulfur does not seem to pose any serious threat
because sulfur is a natural substance, a lot of which is dissolved
in the sea water. The spilled oil, however, is a huge threat to the
marine flora and fauna.
The lighter fraction of the hydrocarbons in the form of thin
film will cover the water surface and stop saturation of the sea
water with oxygen, while heavier fractions will fall to the bottom
to become source of future pollution that will poison the seas for
years to come. Oil is especially dangerous for marine fauna and
their respiratory organs: oil can contaminate gills of fish, which
leads to suffocation. Bottom pollution destroys spawning grounds
and consequently hinders fish spawning and reproduction.
Besides finding those responsible for the accidents, it is
necessary to try to find ways to cope with the consequences.
Existing technologies used in elimination of oil spills like this
are not helping as the applied biological absorbents that help
collect oil from the surface will work only if the water
temperature is over +10 Centigrade, while now the water temperature
is a little above +7. Chemical absorbents do not have thermal
restrictions but when applied, both chemical and biological
absorbents are to be collected from the surface, which is
absolutely impossible now when oil-spill vessels cannot put to sea
because of the storm. The storm also makes it impossible to use
slick bars to stop the oil from spreading.
This disaster, in fact, has clearly demonstrated that today it
is impossible to eliminate consequences oil spills at sea. It is a
very important observation if we take into consideration
far-reaching plans of the Russian government to develop new oil
fields in the Caspian, on Sakhalin shelf, Kamchatka and in the
Arctic. Large spills are equally likely both during production and
transportation of oil. Keeping in mind that oil spills and
shipwrecks will surely be happening in the future regardless of
what people may do to stop it, it will be quite reasonable for this
while to put aside all plans of industrial development in such
environmentally vulnerable areas as sea shelves.