Multi-Criteria Analysis of Different Approaches to Protect the Marine and Coastal Environment from Oil Spills

Abstract

Marine pollution has many different sources. This study focuses on oil spills that may occur after a ship collision or during oil extraction and other oil tanker activities. The most critical oil spill accidents are presented, followed by the regulatory framework on maritime oil spill management. Among the measures taken towards the protection of the marine and coastal environment from oil pollution are floating booms and barriers, oil collecting materials and vessels, absorbent materials, chemical dispersants, other chemicals, physical degradation, biodegradation, on-site oil burning. These measures may assist coastal facilities and local authorities in their strategic development of oil spill mitigation planning and response towards coastal and marine protection from oil spills. In the present paper, the aim is to rank the approaches of dealing with the oil spill by means of a multicriteria method. The theoretical background of the selected multicriteria method, called PROMETHEE, is briefly presented; necessary to understand the ranking of the treatment approaches as well as the subsequent findings of the possible criteria for the analysis. Almost all of the scenarios evaluated rank floating booms and barriers as the most suitable methods to deal with oil spill containment, followed by oil collecting materials and vessels.