Oil spilled at sea may threaten or affect animals that live in the marine environment. The extent to which this happens depends on the type of oil, season, the place, the weather and sea conditions. The threat is a combination of how the oil behaves and where the vulnerable habitats and species are in relation to the oil.

Why to prepare for an oiled wildlife response?

Marine animals may become affected by drifting oil. Especially seabirds can come ashore in large numbers if an oil is spilled in the wrong place and in the wrong season. There are examples of European incidents where several hundreds or even over a thousand live oiled individuals have washed ashore per day. Oil drifting towards feeding areas, breeding areas (birds), haul out sites (pinnipeds) or nesting beaches (sea turtles) requires dedicated measures to be taken as part of the response operations.

Apart from trying anything possible to stop the oil reaching these areas, it should be anticipated that oil may cause wildlife casualties. Such a worst case scenario will pose an immediate logistical challenge to the authorities in charge of the shoreline response operations.

If they wash ashore, dead and live animals need to be collected and dealt with for a range of different reasons. The authorities may have to deal with a range of organisations and/or members of the public who wish to get themselves involved in in the response, including scientists, rehabilitation groups and individuals who are volunteering or appear on site without announcement. Having a plan in place offers the best guarantee that all these interests are optimally dealt with according to pre-defined objectives, principles and strategies.