Pollution in Persian Gulf

by Morteza Aminmansour

The Persian Gulf is a 600 – mile body of water. Persian Gulf is the most strategic waterways in the world due to its importance in the global oil transportation.
Due to the war and high rate of water evaporation, extended drilling and oil extraction, pollution of the water has increased alarmingly. The Persian Gulf is now one of the sensitive marine ecosystems.

The Persian Gulf is the presence of coral colonies and plant spices and need clear protection because of its crucial role in the earth’s life supporting phenomena.
The effects of industrial pollution, oil spills on the marine environment is forcing us to focus on the problem and the need for coastal conservation.

The Avecina and mangroves plants are among the sea resources that provide an ideal living environment for shrimp.

The plants living on the seabed near the shore are supporting the marine life such as dugongs and turtles. The extraction of oil from coastal areas is causing the most important problem such as pollution.

The eight-year Iraq imposed war against IRAN and KUWAIT inflicted serious damage on Persian Gulf and its biological resources. Many sea birds and other spices of marine life have perished because of entering millions tones of crude oil into the Persian Gulf. Because the ecosystem in the Persian Gulf is Vulnerable, regional cooperation among the states is strongly recommended.
The formation of regional organization for protection the coastline and the marine environment are required.

The protection of environment cal benefits all countries among the Persian Gulf. I would like to suggest the monitoring the biodiversity, the marine life of the Persian Gulf.

We experienced serious environmental damage in 1991 Gulf war. The world largest oil spill, estimated 8 million barrels. The gulf waters in coastal areas of IRAN, KUWAIT, and SAUDI ARABIA were fouled. The Saudi Arabia had the worst damage. Because the animals and plants of the seafloor are the basis of the food chain, damage to the shoreline consequences for the whole shallow- water ecosystem.

The impact of the damage affected the multimillion-dollar Saudi fisheries industry and surrounding area including Medina al Jubayl. The spill threatened industrial facilities in Al Jubayl . The greatest pollution was experienced in Abu Ali Island. The large number of marine birds, such as grebes, cormorants, and auks were killed.

Beaches along the entire Al Jubayl coastline were covered with tar balls and oil. The exploding and burning of 700 miles oil wells in Kuwait created staggering levels of atmospheric pollution.
The produced lakes of oil in the Kuwaiti desert equal in volume to twenty times the amount of the oil that poured into the Persian Gulf. The soot from the Kuwaiti fires was found in the snows of the Himalayas and in rainfall over Iran and former Soviet Union countries, Turkey and Oman.

The oil spill and oil fires have affected the water quality, Vegetation, human health as major sources of environmental damage including toxic materials.
The amount of oil leaked into the Persian Gulf waters during 1991 Gulf War was estimated in November 1991 between Six and eight million barrels.

In 1998 the accident involved a barge laden with crude oil from Iran that was being towed by a Dubai-registered tugboat.
The 11,000-ton barge was sinking some eight kilometers of the UAE’s northern coastline. Some 4,000 tons of leaking crude oil has polluted the sea along the emirates of Ajman, posing a threat to its water supply. The Gulf region has scare fresh water sources and depends on desalination plants that purify uncontaminated seawater into drinking water.

The Ajman desalination plant was shut down as a precautionary measure due to the oil slick that threatened the region. The Persian Gulf’s waters are the home to diverse range of marine and bird life including five types of turtles, dugongs and dolphins. Oil spills are a nightmare in the Persian Gulf, the world’s busiest oil channel.
In July 1997, adiesel-carring barge ran aground and spilled more than 5,000 tons of diesels of the UAE emirate of SHARJAH, contaminating the local water supply.
The worst oil spill in UAE was in 1994 when two super tankers collided of the coast of Fujairah, resulting in the leakage of some 16,000 tons of crude.

The tanker collisions, tanker washout is among the most illegal activities in the Persian Gulf.
The conservation of the marine environment of the Persian Gulf is highly recommended.

The Major sources of pollution are:
1) Pollution from ships
2) Pollution from Land-based sources
3) Pollution caused by dumping from ships and aircraft
4) Pollution resulting from exploration and exploitation of the bed of the territorial sea, the continental shelf and the sub-soil thereof.
5) Pollution from other human activities

References:

J. Mike Williamson( principal investigator-Whale Net, Britain – Endangered Seas).
Pilot Whales beaches
Stainislav Patin, Environmental impact of the offshore oil and gas industry.
Snehalatha, Protecting the Persian Gulf .
Xinhua news agency, Gulf oil pollution threatens mangroves.
Saudi Arabia , The environment and the 1991 Persian Gulf.


Back to top

Front Page