Oil spill R ampersand D efforts in Sweden

Let me at first mention some significant facts of the Baltic Sea and of Sweden. It has an average depth of only 60 to 70 meters.The waters are low in temperature as well as low in oxygen and salt content (salinity). The air-temperature is in the winter often lower than minus 20 degrees C. The entrance to the Baltic is very narrow and shallow, which means that it takes thirty years before the water in the Baltic is completely renewed. This makes the Baltic Sea to the world's largest brackish water area where the organisms are very vulnerable and sensitive to all kinds of pollution. Oil spills pose a special threat. Every year, approximately 45 million tons of oil of all types crude, bunker, diesel - to name some - are transported through Swedish waters. The shipping of oil in other parts of the Baltic Sea exceeds this figure; a shipping not subject to our legislation but from time to time, with its spills polluting our environment. Sweden has an extremely long coastline to protect: 14,000 kilometers (nearly 9,000 miles) along the mainland plus the shores of more than 100,000 islands. Some oil spills have contaminated more than 12,000 islands which have large bird and seal populations and are public recreation areas for 1 million people and pleasure boats. Sweden started a comprehensive oil spill R ampersand D programme in 1982. This programme, introduced in this document, is now ended and strategies for the twenty-first century are now being drawn up