An analysis of pollution risk on the Spanish Mediterranean coast

Abstract

Pollution from shipping traffic poses a real risk to the Spanish coast. Memories of the Fedra bulk carrier disaster in the Strait of Gibraltar, the Prestige sinking in Finisterre or the Castor near accident off Almeria coast are still fresh. The main objective of this paper is to analyse, identify and quantify the Spanish Mediterranean coastal areas where spills from tankers are most likely to occur. The article is based on a study which uses a set of variables such as geographical peculiarities, climate, ship age and traffic density to feed an algorithm. This objective function weighs these parameters all along the coast and identifies the Spanish coastal areas having the highest risk of spills.