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Pelagic Tar in the Mediterranean Sea, 1974–75

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Byron F. Morris ,
James N. Butler  and
Adam Zsolnay
Byron F. Morris
Affiliation:
Research Associate, Bermuda Biological Station, St George's West, 1–15, Bermuda,
James N. Butler
Affiliation:
Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Chemistry, Division of Engineering & Applied Physics and Harvard University, Committee on Oceanography, Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, U.S.A.
Adam Zsolnay
Affiliation:
Research Associate, Bermuda Biological Station, St George's West, 1–15, Bermuda.
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Extract

During the period 6 December 1974 to 20 January 1975, the R/V Westward circumnavigated the Mediterranean Sea and took quantitative samples of pelagic tar at 48 stations. These have been compared with a similar survey made in 1969 by the R/V Atlantis II and with some data published in the USSR. In the ‘Ionian Sea’ (between Crete and the Strait of Sicily) the geometric mean of tar concentration has decreased significantly—from 60 mg/m2 in 1969 to 5 mg/m2 in 1974–75. In other regions of the Mediterranean, no significant changes were found. However, in both the ‘Tyrrhenian Sea’ west of Italy and the ‘Alboran Sea’ along the Algerian-Moroccan coast, tar concentrations have increased by about a factor of two, roughly corresponding to the relative increase in tanker traffic in the Mediterranean as a whole. In the ‘Balearic Sea’, 1975 levels were lower than those of 1969, but the data may not be comparable because of the different geographic regions covered.

At present, the total standing stock of pelagic tar in the Mediterranean is lower than in 1969, due to the decrease in pollution of the eastern basin. With the reopening of the Suez Canal, changes in the amounts of tar should be carefully monitored as a measure of pollution control effectiveness.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , Winter 1975 , pp. 275 - 281
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1975

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