Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries: Report of a Joint Working Group of the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries Advisory Councils.

摘要

In June 2011 the Superintendents of the Gulf of the Farallones (GF) and Cordell Banks (CB) National Marine Sanctuaries (NMS) established a Vessel Spills Working Group (VSWG) to provide an analysis and advisory report on the use of oil dispersants within the GF and CB NMS. The formation of the VSWG was the result of a recommendation in the GFNMS 2008 Management Plan. The objective of the VSWG is to provide a set of recommendations to the Sanctuary Advisory Councils (SAC) to consider and transmit to the Superintendents for their consideration. This process was completed in May 2012 and report presented to the SACs on June 7, 2012. The VSWG had invited technical members who discussed inter-agency coordination and response, dispersant decision protocols, oil spill trajectory models, and response technologies. The VSWG decided to focus more on oil spill response technologies and specifically the use of dispersants. In order to fully understand the complexity and dynamics of the fate of oil and oil dispersants and the potential impacts of dispersed oil on the resources within the Sanctuaries, the VSWG has conducted a series of meetings with presentations from identified regional experts in the areas of toxicology, oceanography and the biological resources of the Sanctuaries. The effect of oil and dispersed oil on human health was not a topic discussed with the VSWG. However, a general discussion on this topic is included at the end of the background section based on a group consensus that the topic merits consideration.