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Oil Pollution in the Dutch Sector of the North Sea

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Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 41))

Abstract

Oil pollution is a serious issue in the Netherlands ever since merchant and military vessels with diesel engines gradually replaced vessels operating sails and steam engines in the early twentieth century. Arguably, the southern North Sea became one of the most heavily oil-polluted sea areas in the world as a result of chronic oil pollution. Major shipping incidents resulting in massive oil spills have, however, been rather rare within the area. In the early twenty-first century, the number of detected oil spills has markedly declined and levels of chronic oil pollution are currently rather low. Most detections of oil slicks are still concentrated around the major shipping lanes and off major ports such as Rotterdam and IJmuiden (leading to Amsterdam).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In 2013, due to reorganisation, this is now the Ministry for Infrastructure and the Environment, Rijkswaterstaat Zee & Delta.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank John Huisman for comments on a draft version of the present chapter.

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Correspondence to Kees Camphuysen .

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Camphuysen, K., Vollaard, B. (2015). Oil Pollution in the Dutch Sector of the North Sea. In: Carpenter, A. (eds) Oil Pollution in the North Sea. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 41. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2015_430

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