The official statistics collected and maintained by the ITOPF organization which periodically releases these technical information papers, demonstrate that the vast majority of the oil spills from vessels occur not too far from the shore. Taking into account that the measures normally taken to combat the oil floating on the water surface is limited by numerous constraints such as time and weather, it is difficult o prevent oil from reaching shorelines.

Once the oil has reached the shoreline, there will be significant effort required to get all affected areas cleaned. That is why it is very important that well rehearsed and comprehensive arrangements covering the shoreline clean-up are reflected in contingency plans. The techniques used for the clean-up of shorelines would not usually required any specialized and technically complex equipment since they are quite straightforward.

However, it should be clearly understood that improper techniques and arrangement can seriously aggravate the damage that has been caused by the spill itself. The intention of the present technical information paper is to give description of the clean-up techniques and advise which of them would best suit each of the stages of the cleaning operations, covering different types of shorelines.

This technical information paper is devoted to the application of sorbent when responding to the oil spills from ships. Sorbents are capable of providing a very useful resource allowing spilt oil to be recovered and this is practical in cases where other techniques are unsuitable or unavailable.

However, sorbent materials should be used moderately in order to minimize possible secondary problems, especially when excessive amounts of waste is created - this can significantly add to the overall costs of spill response. In the pages of the present document the types of available sorbent materials are considered together with the ways of their application during the response.

The content of the booklet should better be read with the other releases in this series especially those dealing with the use of skimmers, booms, and shoreline clean-up techniques plus the technical paper addressing the oil and debris disposal.

Oil sorbent materials include a very broad range of products that are normally designed to be used for the oil recovery. The configuration and composition of sorbents depends upon the materials in use and proposed application. They shall be used with care to minimize their excessive and/or inappropriate use that would present various logistical difficulties.

The technical information paper no. 9 issued by the ITOPF to cover the disposal of oil and debris during the oil spill clean-up operations. Most of such activities, and particularly the operations on shore, eventually result in collection of significant amounts of oil and oily wastes.

The storage of wastes and their disposal is one of the critically important aspects of the oil spill response operations and that is the reason why proper waste management provisions shall be highlighted in the oil spill contingency plans developed for the operation. It is also important to make all necessary arrangements at the very beginning of any spill incident in order to prevent any waste issues resulting from compromising the efforts and actually becoming a serious problem continuing long after the completion of the clean-up operation.

The present document is exploring the different options that are available today for the management of wastes normally generated in the course of the ship oil spills at sea. In fact, as the experience shows, the disposal and treatment of collected wastes is one of the most costly and time consuming components of any oil spill response activity. Its amount depends on type of the oil spilt and its quantity, and many other factors, including the extent to which the spilt oil spreads consequently affecting the shoreline...

The technical information paper number ten released by ITOPF to address the leadership command and management of the operations during the marine oil spill response. The effectiveness and overall success of the response to the oil spill seriously depends on the quality of leadership demonstrated by the people in command of the operations.

An organizational structure provides it through many decisions and compromises that shall be made at all stages. The present document considers the situations commonly encountered during the response to the marine pollution, explaining how the effective command, leadership and management could maximize the eventual success of the operations.

Unfortunately, most of the oil spills are unforeseen and once occurred, they may significantly change the way of life for all who are affected. The immediate effects of the oil spills may be the localized damage to the environment and economic resources while the long term consequences are not as serious as they are usually feared. It is very important to avoid losing confidence at the initial stages of the spill incident developing rapidly. When responding to a spill, all effort shall be made to establish effective organizational structure clearly identifying persons in charge...

The marine oil spills can result in very serious damage to the fishery as well as to the various mariculture resources - this is commonly caused by the physical contamination and also different toxic effects; another negative consequence of the oil spills is disruption of the business activities. The extent of the oil spills and their impact on production of the seafood mainly depends on the oil characteristics as well as on the circumstances of the particular incidents and many other factors.

The present technical paper will be describing the effects of the oil pollution from ships providing required guidance on the management strategies and effective spill response measures which may be helpful in reducing the overall severity of the impacts. We know that the mariculture and fishing are considered important industries and they can be affected by the spills in numerous different ways.

For example the plants and animals that are exploited on a commercial basis may get harmed as a result of smothering. Another consequence is contamination of the seafood. Among the chemical and physical characteristics of the oil we would particularly focus on density and viscosity as well as its chemical composition...

Another technical information paper released by the ITOPF organization. The content of this particular one is devoted to the effects that oil pollution may have on the economic and social activities. The economic sectors relying on clean sea water and coastal areas sometimes experience quite significant financial losses in connection with the costs that are incurred in cleaning up the spills.

And, maybe the most serious economic impacts are usually felt in such areas as tourism and fisheries, though many other sectors may be affected including shipping, desalination of the sea water, power plants etc. The present document considers some of the most important effects of spills on the coastal industries as well as social activities duly considering necessary measures to be implemented in order to reduce the impacts of the spills.

Taking into account the particular importance of the spills the authors of this series of technical papers have made a decision to present the relevant information in a separate paper covering tourism, recreational facilities and aquariums, vessel cleaning, marinas, fishing harbors, ports and shipyards, power plants and industrial water intakes, agriculture and salt production, coastal communities etc.

This thirteenth technical information paper issued by the ITOPF is dealing with the effects that the oil pollution has on the marine environment. The spills affect the marine environment in a very serious way, this combines the toxic effects and physical smothering. And the severity of their compact commonly depends on both type of the spilt oil and its quantity as well as of the ambient conditions.

Moreover, we have to take into account the sensitivity of the organisms and their habitats affected by the spills. This document was released to describe all the effects f the vessel-source marine oil spills and of the subsequent clean-up activities on the marine flora/fauna. The authors have paid particular attention to the discussion on the complex interactions between the bio-systems and the oil.

The marine oil spills are often referred to by the media as the environmental disasters having extremely negative consequences for the flora and fauna of the sea. The impacts of the spills have been seriously and closely studies by the scientists and the results of the studies are now presented in the numerous technical and scientific publications available today. It means that now we understand all consequences of the oil pollution and the duration and scale of the damage involved...

The technical information paper number fourteen is devoted to sampling and monitoring of the marine oil spills. When the oil spill occurs, the governments and other organizations usually want to know the extent to which the key resources have been impacted. Subject information is very important for determining whether the prompt action is required in order to protect human health as well as sensitive resources.

The decision making may be facilitated by undertaking relevant monitoring programs and such programs normally involve surveys plus collecting oil samples, water and other samples for chemical analysis. The present document is released to provide some general overview of the sampling and monitoring procedures to be followed when performing both quantitative and qualitative monitoring of contamination.

The qualitative analysis of contamination will confirm its source while the monitoring programs are mainly concerned with the changes occurring in the level of hydrocarbons with the course of time. This paper explains the common terminology involved and provides general guidance on the analytical practice. The content of the technical info paper will be of practical interest for the persons engaged in the analysis of the consequences of the marine oil spills.