Assessment of Damages to Commercial Fisheries and Marine Environment of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Resulting from the Seki Oil Spill of March 1994: A Case Study

Historically, about half the oil transported through the global marine environment has come through the Arabian Gulf and the annual input of oil to the gulf’s marine environment is skewed toward sources connected with marine transport. As a case study, we assess the damages from an oil spill caused by a collision between the crude oil tankers Baynuna and the Seki on 30 March 1994. The collision released approximately 16,000 metric tons (MT) of light Iranian crude oil into the coastal waters of the Emirate of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. Under the sponsorship of the Government of Fujairah, we analyze the effects on commercial fisheries and marine environment of Fujairah resulting from the spill. This analysis was the first comprehensive natural resource damage assessment conducted in this area. The major difficulty was to establish the economic damages associated with the environmental contamination and fisheries declines. We adapt an established compensation schedule to the UAE situation. Information on the amount and type of oil spilled, the amount of oil recovered, the season, the habitats oiled, the resources exposed, and the sensitivity of the resources is then used to establish the economic value of losses associated with environmental contamination and fisheries decline. INTRODUCTION Oil currently supplies about 40% of the world’s energy, and recent estimates suggest that the Middle East has over 65% of world’s petroleum reserves (World Resources Institute 1996). The countries bordering the Arabian Gulf produce almost 6 billion barrels (bbl) or 798 million metric tons (MT) of oil a year, about 27% of the world’s production in 1993 (World Resources Institute 1996). Historically, about half of the oil transported through the global marine environment has come through the Arabian Gulf (Gupta et al. 1993). Besides the dramatic and well-publicized catastrophic oil spills, a substantial amount of oil enters the marine and coastal waters of the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman from a variety of other sources: ballast water discharges, fueling spills, platform blowouts, pipeline leaks, and spills from tanker and barge accidents. Natural seeps also constitute a significant contribution. Little information is available on the magnitudes of inputs from these more routine sources, and what estimates are available differ by orders of magnitude (e.g., Oostdam 1980; Linden 1990; Sorkoh 1992; Literathy 1993; Price 1993). Transported oil constitutes a more significant source in the Gulf than in other parts of the world