Background:
It is a matter of fact that the gulf region is the wealthiest place of oil. The countries of Gulf Cooperation Council depend mainly on petrol for a source of income. Most of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries have no other resources except petrol. Reviewing the economies of the GCC countries, one would discover that countries such as Kuwait and Bahrain depend on petrol and oil in their budgets. In fact, the matter is very risky. For countries such as the United Arab of Emirates, there are many other resources of income such as industry and tourism. However, the country also depends on oil and petrol. The matter in a country such as Saudi Arabia is almost the same. Saudi Arabia principally depends on petrol and oil to sustain the big demand for electricity in the Kingdom. Moreover, Saudi Arabia has another resource, which us the pilgrimage. Qatar has the same circumstances because the country relies on petrol and oil. Therefore, one could say that oil is the main source of income that considerably contributes to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
Introduction:
Oil spill is one of the most dangerous problems in the world and this problem is such as a monster that threatens the nature and life in the gulf region. Oil spill means that there is a ship carrying oil or petrol sailing in the sea, while a spill occurs to it and oil is dropped on the water. Oil spill can also happen through the oil planes that fall in a river, sea or ocean. In additions, oil mining is the main reason for oil spills. That is because when drillers dig for oil, they would dig wrongly or dig in more that a one place and this would lead to a long lasting oil spill to the Gulf region. As it is mentioned before that Gulf Cooperation Council countries are the biggest producers of oil in the world. This, of course, has led to many oil accidents in the gulf region. The matter is very dangerous in the gulf countries because they are close to each other and any accident that happens to a place would spread fast to other places or other countries in the same region. Oil spill has many bad risks on plants, sea life, nature, and people. All these risks would result in the destruction of all shapes of life in the gulf region. These risks and dangers could be numerous and diverse.
Effects of Oil Spill on Sea Life:
Oil spill has many dangerous on sea life. These risks are containing all shapes of sea life and the creature living in.
1. Preventing Sun Rays:
First, when an oil spill happens to a sea, oil goes up to the surface of the sea because the density of oil is less that the density of water. Therefore, oil goes up to the surface of the sea. This prevents the sun rays from going down and penetrating the water in order to reach to plants, coral reefs, and fishes.
2. Death of Sea Plants:
Without the sun ray, the plants in the sea die and all the shapes of coral reefs disappear. Moreover, the sun rays should reach to fishes in order they can swim in the water.
3. Killing Marine Creatures:
In addition to that, if the sun rays do not reach to the creatures in the sea, fishes would see their foods and they would die of hunger. The oil spill on the surface of the sea would make fishes die because of the chemical components that are on oil. When fishes live in such environment, they either die or they immigrate from the place in which there is an oil spill. Adding to that the bad effects that happen to other creatures such as snails and amphibious turtles.
Effects of Oil Spill on Humans:
1. Losses to Tourism:
Oil spill are very dangerous in humans because they have a direct relationship with water. To illustrate, humans like to swim in touristic resorts or even on public costs. When an oil spill happens to water of the Arabian Gulf, this prevents human from swimming there. Therefore a mean of entertainment would not be available.
Moreover, some countries in the gulf region such as United Arab of Emirates and Qatar depend on tourism a source of income. When an oil spill happens in any region there, tourism would be decreased because the view would not be pleasing there. Hence oil spills would have a direct effect on humans.
2. Preventing an Important Source of Food:
In addition to that, Most of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries depend on the Arabian Gulf as a source of food through fishing there. Oil spills would lead to the death of all fishes and this would affect negatively to the sea foods in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Such fishes that are caught from the Arabian Gulf are used to sustain the needs of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries' citizens and they are also used for export. Hence, people in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries would not find enough fishes to eat and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries would be deprived of a source of income through the exportation of fish.
Effects of Oil Spill on Birds:
1. Starvation for Birds:
Oil spills are also very catastrophic to birds especially the birds that depend on fish for eating. When fishes die because of oil spill pollution, all the sea birds would not find fishes to eat.
2. The Spread of Diseases:
In the case that, there were some fishes living, their bodies would bear the particles and compounds of oil that are in the sea. They would be like diseases bearers that would kill any creature who eat them or transfer illnesses to it. When sea birds eat fishes that have diseases because of the oil spills in the Arabian Gulf, these birds would be afflicted with diseases. When they fly to any place, they would transfer the diseases to many places all over the world.
3. Disturbance to the Ecosystem:
If such birds die, the balance of the ecological environment would suffer from a disturbance. That is because three elements of the ecological system would die which are fishes, seabirds, and water plants. This would be proceeded by the death of other creatures in many regions such as bears, crocodiles, and hawks. This is due to the connectivity and the interrelation that is between all creatures. For example, hawks depend on seabirds for food. If these seabirds die, hawks would also die as a result.
Effects of Oil Spill on Underground Water:
It is known that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries do not have any sources of water except the underground water. This matter creates a shortage in the sources of water in all the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
1. Pollution to the Underground Water:
If the underground water of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries was polluted, there would not be any water in these countries. All the sources of water are linked to each other and the underground water is linked to the Arabian Gulf water through many natural paths underground. If an oil spill occurs in the Arabian Gulf, this spill would be transferred to the underground water that is used for drinking and agriculture. The matter is very dangerous because all the wells would be polluted.
2. Prevention of Water Desalination:
In addition to that, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries depend on seawater desalination for drinking. Thus, if the Arabian Gulf water is polluted, there would not be a possibility for water desalination. This would result in a big problem in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries that would only depend on importing water from neighboring countries that have seas.
3. Increasing Water Importation:
In addition to this, the matter of importing all the potable water in the gulf region would represent a pressure card to them. In addition to this, there would not be any water for planting any trees or plants in the gulf region in which agriculture depend on wells water and desalination water. This would also lead to a shortage on some crops that are planted in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
High Costs of Removing Oil Spill as an Effect:
Adding to the previous risks on many dimension, removing the effects of oils spills. This would cost the Gulf Cooperation Council countries much money to try to fix the environment. The matter needs many efforts and huge amounts to just try to remove some of the results of oil spills in the Arabian Gulf. This would happen through man techniques such as barrels to prevent the oil from spreading to other places or even taking the polluted waters through huge ships.
Recommendations:
- It is highly recommended that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries apply strictly all the national and international standards and norms of health and safety in order to prevent any spills from happening.
- Moreover, there should be an inclusive check to all the ships that are passing through the Arabian Gulf in order to ensure their liability to pass through the region without causing any harms to the environment through any oil spills.
- Besides, all the petrol companies should bear their responsibility towards the environment through applying all the procedures that would prevent any harms to the environment.
- In additions to this, there should be many campaigns to raise people awareness about the risks and dangers of oil spills and to encourage them to report the competent authorities in any case of oil spills. There also should be a wider cooperation between all the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in this regard to secure the environment and eliminate any obstacles that hinder saving the environment.
- Besides, many researches and studies should be performed about the risks of oil spills and the best ways of keeping the environment safe. That is because the scientific side is neglected in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in regard to the methods of securing the environment from oil spills. Many research centers should be established and the money allocated for scientific researches should be also increased.
Summary:
To sum up, oil spill is a very dangerous matter that threatens all creatures such as humans, plants, fishes, and birds. Additionally, the place would be very ugly to look and tourism would disappear in the place in which there is an oil spill. Ships find the matter so difficult to sail in a place of an oil spill. Thus, one can say that water spill would lead to the death of fishes and sea creatures. Moreover, the oil spills have many bad effects on humans that would not be able to swim in regions of oil spill and that also would suffer from a shortage in fish as a healthy and cheap food for themselves and families.
