Ghost Marine Oil Spills

This book investigates the problem of ‘ghost’ or untraceable small-scale oil spills at sea. Ghost spills, which are spills for which the spillers cannot be traced, are much more common than traceable spills, and small-scale spills are much more common than large-scale spills.

This is something of a unique study, as the subject of small-scale ‘ghost spills’ is very much under-researched, despite its importance.

Small-scale ghost spills cause a significant amount of ecological, environmental, economic and social damage, and are a violation of environmental justice because the perpetrators escape having to pay for clean-up and compensation. Instead of the polluter paying, the polluted coastal communities, which are often impoverished, end up bearing these costs. This is clearly unfair.

The Musandam Peninsula serves as a case study because of its strategic location in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil transport route in the Arabian Gulf. Residents report that oil slicks and tar balls on Musandam’s coast result from tanker and ship discharges in the Strait of Hormuz. There are compensation schemes available to meet the costs of marine oil spills, but they generally require proof that a spill has been caused by a vessel, and such proof is very hard to obtain in the case of small-scale ghost spills. The stakeholders interviewed in this study emphasized the need for greater community involvement in decision-making over dealing with small-scale ghost spills.

The book could be adopted as recommended reading for MSc modules on Marine Pollution Control, Environmental Impact of Oil Spills, Maritime Law, Environmental Regulations, and Coastal Management and Conservation.