be made between booming a marina full of expensive boats or booming the en- 

 trance of a salt marsh to keep oil out, the salt marsh should be boomed. 

 Under the best of circumstances, both could be boomed, of course; but ecolog- 

 ical impacts tend to be both longer lasting and harder to repair than esthetic 

 impacts. We have the technology to clean oil from boats; we have no tech- 

 nology to clean a salt marsh without causing ecological damage in addition to 

 that already caused by the spill. 



Often, those areas most vulnerable to ecological impacts of oil spills, 

 like salt marshes, are often the most difficult to "clean" or "restore" 

 (Lindstedt-Siva 1979). Therefore, in terms of immediate spill response, high 

 priority should be given to protection of biologically sensitive areas. Keep- 

 ing oil away from a sensitive area is the ideal solution, because it prevents 

 impacts from both oil and subsequent cleanup. If oil does contaminate shore- 

 lines, cleanup decisions must then be made. Methods can be chosen for spe- 

 cific environments on the basis of their ecological effects combined with 

 those of the spilled oil. Low-impact techniques should be selected over high- 

 impact methods and the "no cleanup" option should always be considered. 



As coastal environments vary both physically and biologically, response 

 to spills in these areas must vary as well. Many response decisions can be 

 made before a spill occurs, rather than hastily during a crisis. Clean Seas, 

 Inc., an oil cleanup cooperative based in Santa Barbara, has implemented the 

 goal-oriented spill response planning described here. Since put into practice, 

 it has already proven effective. 



PLANNING SPILL RESPONSE TO MINIMIZE ECOLOGICAL 

 IMPACT: THE SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL 



A two-pronged planning approach was used: (1) identification of biolog- 

 ically sensitive areas and development of strategies to protect them, and (2) 

 development of guidelines for minimum-impact oil spill cleanup for all types 

 of environments in the Santa Barbara Channel. 



Biologically Sensitive Areas 



Ecological impacts of oil spills can be minimized if those areas most 

 vulnerable to such impact could be protected during a spill event. Such 

 biologically sensitive areas can be identified for a particular coastline 

 before a spill occurs. Often, strategies can be developed to protect identi- 

 fied areas. Protection serves the dual purpose of preventing initial impacts 

 from spilled oil and subsequent impacts from cleanup. 



The Santa Barbara Channel (Figure 1) has had a long history of offshore 

 and onshore oil development. It is also an area of ecological richness. It 

 is a zone of transition between northern and southern plant and animal assem- 

 blages. The Channel Islands are major haul -out and/or rookery beaches for 

 six pinniped species. These islands are nesting and feeding areas for many 

 bird species. Several plant and animal species associated with the islands 



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