CHAPTER 8: IMPACT OF OIL ON THE SUPRALITTORAL ZONE 



8.1 Damage to shore vegetation 

 (Anders Lindhe) 



8.1.1 Introduction 



This study was not begun until the middle of June and by then all 

 the affected coastline including all the fine-grain sediment shores 

 suitable for field study had been cleaned up. This was also true of the 

 bay near Lisb'kalv which was supposed to be left undone. Accordingly, 

 traces of damage by oil upon the vegetation were mostly masked by the 

 mechanical effect of the cleanup. Any sites for studying the long-term 

 effect of oil upon vegetation could, for the same reason, not be found. 

 Since the cleanup on land was mostly mechanical, the effect of chemicals 

 could not be studied. A rough estimate of the acute effects of oil on 

 plants could, however, be gained by studying some non-cleaned areas in 

 the Stockholm archipelago affected by oil from the ship Oktavius . The 

 rest of the work was devoted to studies of the cleanup measures from a 

 biological point of view. 



8.1.2 Methods 



The field work consisted of visits to different oil-affected and 

 cleaned-up areas during June, July and August. In early summer, sites 

 in the Stockholm Archipelago (at Varmdolandet and some nearby islands), 

 affected by oil from the Oktavius and Michail Kalinin oil spills, were 

 studied. The Oktavius oil had been on the shore for about as long a 

 time as the Tsesis oil, though it was of a slightly different type. The 

 Michail Kalinin oil, thin diesel oil, had only been on the shore for a 

 couple of weeks when the studies were made. Some fine-grain sand shores 

 on Toro and Svardso, heavily affected by Tsesis oil, were also visited 

 at this time. These sites were revisited at the end of summer when the 

 entire coastline between Oren on southern Toro and Hoviksholmarna on 

 Svardso were investigated on foot. The firm, "Sanerings Konsult", is 

 thanked for valuable assistance with transport and information. 



169 



