ASSESSMENT FOR ECONOMICAL IMPACTS ON FISHERIES BY OIL SPILL IN THE SEA OF OKHOTSK

Abstract

Development of oil and natural gas deposits are currently under way at the northeastern coast of Sakhalin. In the early stage of this project, it is planed to transport crude oil by surface tanker. But it is well known that the major spills in the ocean were caused by tanker incident.
In this paper, the simulation of oil spreading and drifting with the scenario of oil spill from the tanker at the Soya Straits was conducted. Based on this simulation, it is pointed out that the coast of Soya Bay could be polluted by crude oil spill, and the heavy impacts for fisheries of the coast of Hokkaido should occur. To reduce the impact of oil spill, some requirements for oil-combating plan was discussed.