The Torrey Canyon Disaster: A review of methods employed to combat large scale oil pollution

Abstract

In this review an attempt has been made to collate the central points of the most important of the multitudinous reports which have appeared in connection with the Torrey Canyon oil pollution. The content has been limited to the biological aspects of a large-scale oil spillage and its subsequent treatment, although the importance of tourist amenities also receives consideration in the discussion. Consequently, several related topics which lie outside the scope of the biologist have either been omitted or just mentioned in passing: they include the technical problems of the salvage of oil from a crippled tanker, the control or collection of floating oil, and the administrative organisational requirements for effective action in an emergency of this kind.