Changing course: Relocating commercial tanker lanes significantly reduces threat of chronic oiling for a top marine predator.
Mar Pollut Bull
; 193: 115195, 2023 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37356128
ABSTRACT
A goal for conservation biologists is to show that policies enacted on behalf of an imperiled species results in direct benefits for it. In Argentina, tens of thousands of Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) were estimated to have died from chronic oil pollution each year through the early 1980s. From 1982 to 1990, surveys at sites along approximately 900 km of Chubut Province coastline found that >60 % of penguin carcasses had evidence of oiling in some years. In response to these findings, as well as pressure from non-governmental organizations and the public, provincial and federal authorities in Chubut moved the commercial tanker lanes 20 nautical miles farther offshore in 1997 and required oil tankers to have double hulls. During a second round of surveys in 2001, using most of the same sites as the first survey period, the number of dead and oiled penguins dropped effectively to zero. A policy change not only led to fewer oiled penguins, but also likely increased the survival of adult Magellanic penguins near some of their most significant breeding colonies in Argentina.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Poluição por Petróleo
/
Spheniscidae
Limite:
Animals
País/Região como assunto:
America do sul
/
Argentina
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Mar Pollut Bull
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article