Biological Effects of Oil Pollution
Pollution is defined as environmental contamination which has a deleterious effect, and in a biological context it is only mortality which has some impact at the level of the population or community that is important. Thus, very heavy mortality of the eggs and fry of commercial fish species may have no detectable effect on the commercial catch in future years. A reduction in the population of a species which is dominant in its community, on the other hand is likely to result in major ecological adjustment. Oil pollution does not appear to have reduced populations of commercial fish species or seabirds, the two groups of animals about which most fears have been expressed. The marine environment is subject to wide and erratic fluctuations which make it difficult to detect the impact of oil pollution unless the cause is obvious, even then some caution is necessary before attributing environmental change to pollution.