Ingram, R. Grant

English

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ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES OF PORT VALDEZ. EDITED BY D. W. HOOD, W. E. SHIELS and E. F. DLLEY. Fairbanks: Uni- versity of Alaska, 1973. (Institute of Matine Science Occasiond  Publication no. 3). 500 pages, illustrated. $15.00. DATA VOLUME (800 pp.) available. (Occasional Publication no. 3A) at $I 0.00. In early 1968, exploratory  drilling  on  the North Slope of Alaska confirmed the exis- tence of over 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil which in turn prompted a series of pro- posals on how this oil might be moved to the American  market. One of these  proposals was the building of an 800 mile Trans- Alaskan pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to the Gulf of Alaska, from where the oil would be  shipped by tankers to the US. west  coast: Valdez,  a  small  fishing  village  on the  southern mainland  coast of Alaska  was  chosen  as the most suitable site for the pipeline terminal because of its ice-free deep fiord waters and favorable  harbour conditions. As previous events have shown, a close examination of the environmental impact of a major transhipment port is essential. The Institute of Marine Science of the University of Alaska has attempted to examine some of these  questions  in  its  present  study of the  Port Valdez area. This work has focused attention primarily on  the influence of crude oil addi- tions from  treated ballast-water ,effluent, rather than on the overall effect of tanker operations. Even with such a limited scope, the study succeeds in providing a baseline picture of the Port Valdez environment. In the twelve chapters of the text, all major oceanographic  disciplines are represented, complemented  by chapters on  the hydro- carbon and biodegradation aspects and by a section on the phytotoxicity of crude oil. One can  understand the editors’  wish to make the book more readable, which led them to place most of the raw observations in the adjoining data volume.  Even so, some of the numerous figures in  the main  text  could  have been further summarized for the readers’ benefit. In Part I, which  concerns, the physical  base- line, standard geological,  physical and chemi- cal oceanographic variables are shown for various locations in  the Port Valdez  and Valdez Arm areas. These observations were taken on six occasions  over an  annual cycle. They include  such  items 88 bottom  sediments, suspended matter, temperature, salinity, nu- trients and drogue results. Dye dispersion studies  were also employed in calculating dilution rates in the area of the proposed ballast-water  effluent outfall. The information presented in Part I provides  a data base for  future work in the  area in that it documents the gross geographic  and  seasonal variability of the above variables. However, the effect of shorter-period variability at a fixed  station,  such as tidal period  changes of salinity, temperature, suspended matter, nu- trients,  etc. is not discussed, the only  exception being the data provided from the moored current meters. A steady-state  assumption for spatially-sampled  variables  will be altered to some extent by these fluctuations. Meteoro- logical information, such as fog frequency, daily  winds  and temperature, is  not  dealt  with in detail. In  Part 11, the living baseline is presented in  studies of primary  production, phyto- plankton,  zooplankton and benthos.  These sections primarily catalogue the existing dis- tributions of the marine fauna. The section on  primary  production  shows  some  interesting comparisons of differing  techniqum  in calcu- lating  production and  the local effects of turbidity near river mouths. Overall, parts I and I1 provide a descriptive picture of the Port Valdez marine environment,  leaving the interpretation incomplete. Part 111, which concerns the hydrocarbon interaction,  differs from  the previous two sec- tions  in that it deals  more specifically  with the possible impact of the treated ballast-water effluent on the present marine environment. Although limited to discussion of this par- ticular effluent (and not to those associated with the chronic pollution from contjnupus tanker operations), the studies of phytotoxicity and biodegradation are very thorough. This work  stands by  itself as a valuable  contribu- tion to environmental  studies, apart  from its immediate  concern  with the  Port Valdez area. In the past, fishing has been one of the main occupations  in  Valdez. The toxic  effects of even  low concentrations of oil on fish  eggs and larvae is an  important consideration for the  marine environment of Port Valdez and its community. The likelihood of chronic  or catastrophic oil pollution of the  port must be recognized, and measures  taken to deal with it in future. In summary, the work  comprises  observa- tions taken in Port Valdez over a one-year period  by a  multi-disciplinary group with the specific goal of analysing the impact on the marine environment of ballast-water  disposal. It is hoped that  he results  will be used not as a  means of reassuring the community that no threat of damage exists from the operation of oil tankers into Port Valdez; rather, they should serve as a  basis for further studies of the problem of dealing  with  prob- able oil contamination in the area greater than that caused solely by the ballast-water effluent. R. Grant  lngram 

Environmental Studies of Port Valdez, edited by D.W. Hood, W.E. Shiels and E.F. Kelley

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Environmental Studies of Port Valdez, edited by D.W. Hood, W.E. Shiels and E.F. Kelley

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