Oil spills

Pollution of marine waters was realized somewhere in the 1970s. It was otherwise thought that the world's oceans have an infinite capacity for absorbing our waste. This hazard is purely of anthropogenic origin. Some major types of pollutants that have been the focus of recent research are oil, sewage, garbage, chemicals, radioactive waste and thermal pollution. Among these, the oil pollution is always discussed at length because other pollutants affect limited areas. Not enough information is yet available about radioactive waste disposal and its pollution effect.
We read in the media about oil spills when oil tankers break close to coastlines or oil is spilled from these tankers. However, only about 10% of oil pollution is because of the oil spills and is a short-term coastal hazard. However, the other causes that affect in long term are: leaks at marine terminals, disposal of drilling muds from offshore operations. Only a small fraction of the world's used oil is recovered, the rest simply goes down the drain and away into the sea.
Oil pollution is important to the Indian coastline, because, most of the petroleum products (including oil) originate in the West Asian countries and are transported from the Indian Ocean to other parts of the world.
Besides, the effects of these on the environment, this type of pollution also affect the living biota of the seas which is consumed by human being world over.