Response of macrobenthic communties to oil spills along Goa coast

Abstract

Oil pollution is a major environmental problem and is important, in particular to the Indian coastline as two main oil tanker routes pass through the Arabian Sea. In contrary to the decrease in oil spill globally, the number of tanker spills/accidents has increased along the Indian coast with 70% occurring along west coast. Like other states on the west coast of India, Goa coastline also lies along the oil tanker route and since 1994, four spills have been reported. In May 2006, a bulk carrier “MV Ocean Seraya” ran aground along the Karwar Coast and the impact of the slick was also visible 20 kms away in South Goa. In view of the increased incidents of oil spills, it was felt necessary to analyse and discuss the impact of oil spills on the intertidal benthic community and coastal fishery. The present work also discusses the impact of oil spill from MV Ocean Seraya and the impact of other oil spills on the intertidal macrobenthic community along the Goa coast.