Review of Potential Effects of Oil Spills on Coastal and Marine Resources on Western Libyan Coastal

An oil spill can significantly affect coastal resources and the economy through economic activities that depend on clean seawater, coastal areas


Introduction
Global trade, particularly the transport of oil products, has increased rapidly with the industrial revolution and is mainly supported by marine transportation (Naz et al., 2021), which sometimes causes ship accidents, resulting in oil spills that are considered a significant threat to the marine ecosystem (Liu et al., 2019).In fact, 80% of Libyan crude oil is exported via oil tankers and pipelines in the Mediterranean Sea.In addition, Libya has the largest storage and exploration of the oil and gas industry at sea on the western Libyan coast (NOC, 2021).Accordingly, these locations may all pose a serious threat to the marine habitats of ecosystems and the people living near the contaminated coastline, affecting their livelihoods and impairing their quality of life (ITOPF, 2011).Therefore, identifying and assessing coastal resources and their existing conditions can help decision-makers understand, manage, and reduce the risk of an oil spill (Oliveira et al., 2014).As mentioned above, the aim of this paper is to determine the activities that are potentially damaged by oil spill risks for future oil spill disasters, such as marine protected areas, fishing, beaches, tourist and cultural sites due to their locations near potential oil spill sources along the coastline between Abu Kammash and Tripoli city (Al Garaboly).Sections of this paper are set out as follows: Section (1) Methods of data collection.Section (2) presents the socio-economic activities, their existing sensitivity to an oil spill, and its effect, respectively, including the cultural and historical sites and industrial activities.Section (3) focuses on three important biological resources: migratory birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals (dolphins) and the effects of oil spills on them.Section (4) results.Section (5) the conclusions

Area of Study
The area of study is located between 33°10'00" N-11°33'43" E, and 32°47'26" N-13°49'28" E. It has the largest population density in Libya, as shown in Figure (1.A) (Bureau of Statistics and Census Libya, 2021;and Badi et al., 2018).Furthermore, it includes the marine protected area of Farwa Island, which represents one of the most important sites of habitats and high biodiversity used as a feeding and nesting place for loggerhead turtles and feeding places for migrant birds, as shown in Figure (1.B) (MedPan, 2021;and Etayeb et al., 2012).Moreover, it includes Sabratha city, which is the biggest archaeological site as pronounced by UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 (UNESCO, 2021) as it covers various coastal types, such as coastal salt marsh, rocky shores, and sandy beaches.According to the survey in the available literature review, there are a few studies on the risks and sensitivity of oil spills on the Libyan coast, which reflects a wider discrepancy between the extent and detail of southern Mediterranean research.Previous studies on the Libyan coast are limited to one paper (Maitieg, 2018).This paper deals with the coastline sensitivity in only one city in Libya, "Misratah City".Actually, this paper focuses on the coastal resources along the western Libyan coastline to help provide a basis to outline the priorities for protection and information plans to achieve the best-suited response and reduce adverse environmental consequences.

Methods and Data Collection
The framework was developed for understanding oil spill impacts according to the literature review, with an emphasis on environmental and economic impacts, which were identified in several domains.It can be used to clarify the complexity of oil spill consequences, facilitate comparison across events, and support the development of planning scenarios for potential future oil spills.The acquired data on coastal habitats and species for this paper was collected from the available literature, and annual scientific reports of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as well as some Libyan government organizations such as the National Oil Corporation, Environmental General Authority, Marine Biology Center, and Bado Society for the environment.The survey conducted in 2019 was targeted at checking on literature sourced information, obtaining data on the current status of resources in the study area, as well as identifying and defining the potential negative economic and environmental effects of oil spillage.This has been performed through referring to government documents and reports and previous papers related to oil spills and their environmental and societal consequences, with an emphasis on their environmental and economic impacts (ITOPF, IPIECA).This paper identifies the sensitivity of coastal resources to oil spills along the Libyan coast from Abu Kammash to Tripoli (Al Garaboly), clarifying coastal resources' importance to local communities and defining the existing condition of coastal resources as shown in Figure ( 2) in a hierarchy of categories.The results of this paper help planners to identify and define the potential negative economic and environmental effects of oil spillage.Furthermore, it provides specific details to help them set up protection priorities and clean-up strategies to preserve amenity values as well as historical and cultural sites.Coastal wetlands are considered the most productive ecosystems on Earth (NOAA, 2021).The salt industry depends on salt marshes, which were turned into salt deposits following the evaporation of seawater (Eiser and Kjerfve, 1986).In Libya, most of the salt industry is concentrated around the cities of Abu Kammash, Zwara, Zultoon, and Misratah, as well as the Sirte coast and Benghazi region, as shown in Figure (3.A).The salt industry in the study area region relies on the Subkhas, located in the western part of Libya.Subkha Abu Kammash is considered the most important salt marsh in this area, with a total area of about 50 km 2 .This is a unique salt marsh of the Mediterranean Sea where the saltwater pumps from the marsh through the tubes into the chemical plant Abu Kammash to make pure salt (El Magsodi et al., 2011).Sensitivity to oil spill: Coastal wetlands are registered as vulnerable to oil spills because the low wave energy of a salt marsh does not remove oil effectively (Kankara and Subramanian, 2007).In addition, crude oil contains PAHs, which are the most toxic contaminants in marshes (Mendelssohn et al., 2012).Hence, accidental spillage of oil into this area by offshore platforms or the Zawiya refinery could significantly impact the salt industry.For example, most of the oil leaked from the DWH disaster reached coastal marshes in the United States (Reddy et al., 2012).

Cultural and Historical Sites
Libya has several historical sites of such considerably important socio-economic along the Mediterranean coast that they are included on the World Heritage List by UNESCO such as Cyrenaica, Leptis Magna, and Sabratha (UNESCO, 2021).Sabratha city is considered one of the best-preserved Roman sites outside Italy, as it is located on the coast about 67 km from Tripoli and has a seafront of about 400 m (Finzi,1996), as shown in Figure ( 4).Furthermore, there is another historical site in this region, which is the Turkish Fort of Abu-Kammash, built close to the Farwa lagoon.The fort was guarded by Turkish soldiers until the Italian war at the start of the 20th century (Temehu, 2021).Sensitivity to an oil spill: Because these archaeological sites are located on the beach, they have a high risk of damage by cleanup operations equipment from an oil spill that requires careful care during use or hydrocarbon contamination that adversely affects radiocarbon dating (ITOPF, 2011).

Tourist Beaches
The beaches of Libya lie along a 1,770-km coastline and are considered among the longest in the Mediterranean Sea (IUCN, 2011).Moreover, resorts and swimming beaches are important places for coastal tourism in Libya.Hence, beach tourism is deemed the most important economic activity in Libya as support is a part of the gross inner product (Onofri et al., 2013).Furthermore, beach tourism is mostly internal, with the beaches along this stretch of coastline being used for amenity purposes by Libyan nationals.The sand beaches in this study area cover 52.55 km of the Libyan shoreline, such as Abu Kammash, Zwara, Telil, and Al Garaboly beaches, which are distinguished by their white sands.Sensitivity to an oil spill: The most important beaches that extend along the western Libyan coastline, such as Farwa Island Marine Protected Area and Telil tourist resort, are under oil pollution pressure due to their locations near oil spill sources such as the Melitah oil complex and Zawiya Oil Refining.Therefore, in the event of an oil spill, resorts will suffer economic income losses and property damage.

Fishing Activity
Libya has the second-largest continental shelf and the richest fishing region in the Mediterranean (Filogh, 2019).Marine fisheries and fishery-related activities are important strips of the Libyan economy (Milanese et al., 2008).Most boats and loading sites in Libya are concentrated in the western Libyan coastal part, about (55%) (IUCN, 2011), as shown in Figure ( 5).Libya's production of fisheries dropped to about 26,012 tons in 2015 due to the deterioration of the security situation in the country, and the Libyan fishing sector depended on foreign workers (mostly from Egypt).These foreign workers have left Libya since the outbreak of the revolution in 2011 (Filogh, 2019).Sensitivity to an oil spill: Following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, studies focused on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are toxic to fish (Incardinate et al., 2011).Water areas whose water depth is shallow and their habitats are in the intertidal zone become the most vulnerable to oil spill risk.For example, the Farwa lagoon, whose water is shallow and semi-enclosed, might be at risk of an oil spill if it happened.Libya enjoys a strategic site on the south shore of the Mediterranean Sea.There are 18 ports distributed along the coastline, as shown in Figure ( 6).The main commercial ports are Tripoli, Khoms, Misratah, and Benghazi, while the ports of Zwara, Sirte, Tobruk, and Darnah are classified as secondary ports.These ports are considered the key feeding points for international trade imports and exports in Libya (Elferjani and Ghashat, 2017).Sensitivity to an oil spill: if an oil spill occurs in these ports, particularly in Tripoli port, the port authorities will demand the cleaning of the hulls of vessels before they are permitted to sail.In this case, this may cause disruption to normal port operations, vessel movements, or delays in traffic in and out of a port that would incur economic losses.

Energy and Electricity Power Plant
The total number of energy plants in Libya is 16, with a total energy generation capacity of 6.3 GW (Ahwide and Aldali,2014)

Desalination Plants
Despite the importance of desalination technology in providing water worldwide, the past governmental regime in Libya has not invested in this field.The main focus has been on providing drinkable water for the Libyan people through the man-made river project (MMRP), which is considered one of the principal civil engineering projects, although, it has not ultimately solved the water problem in Libya (Brika, 2018).The largest production of desalination plants lies in the northwest of Tripoli city on the Mediterranean Sea, such as Zawiya, Zwara, Tajoura, and Tripoli west desalination plants.Sensitivity to an oil spill: Oiled seawater obviously damages coastal desalination plants.Once an oil spill reaches intake, it easily causes biofouling of water treatment filters, which in turn cause a reduction in the capacity of overall plant performance (ITOPF, 2011).Accordingly, it is necessary to develop an early assessment of the risk associated with the oil spill impact for desalination plants on the Libyan coastal.

Biological Resources and Their Existing Sensitivity to Oil Spill
The object of determining biological resources is to identify the most sensitive life-stages locations of the highest concentrations.In addition, species those have sensitivity to oil spills; and species that are threatened and endangered.In general, coastal, marine, aquatic, wetland, and riparian species and habitats are highlighted.In some cases, the sensitivity of a habitat type may be low, but the sensitivity of species that use or rely on the habitat is high (Doan, 2015).The Libyan coastal and marine environment is recognized as one of the world's 25 top biodiversity hotspots with a large number of endemic species (UNEP/MAP, 2012).Unfortunately, extensive coastal habitats and species data are unavailable.This section,

Review of Potential Effects of Oil Spills on Coastal and Marine Resources…
Faculty of Marine Resources, Alasmarya Islamic University, Libya.

Sea Turtle Nesting Area
Libya is one of the most important Mediterranean countries for the sea turtle population during their nesting and foraging (Casale et al., 2020).Although loggerhead turtle nesting occurs across the Mediterranean Basin, more than 96% of clutches are laid in Greece, Turkey, Libya and Cyprus, as shown in Figure ( 8) ( Casale et al., 2018).The green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) are two common sea turtle types in Libyan waters (IUCN, 2011).The loggerhead turtle nesting season in Libya ranges from late May to early September, with a peak in nesting in June-July (Hamza, 2010).Some levels of nesting sites were recorded in western Libya essentially concentrated at coastal areas Abu Kammash, Sabratha and Al Garaboly, where nesting sign density as measured by single surveys was reported to be higher in these coasts, notably on the beaches of Farwa island, Zwara (Laurent et al., 1999).Sensitivity to an oil spill: oil pollution is a major threat to nesting beaches in Libya because many nesting sites are near oil-exporting terminals.As a result, the oil pollution risk for turtles and their nesting area is greatest during the nesting season in May to August on the western Libyan coastline, especially on Farwa Island and Zwara.and Tunisia (Stokes et al., 2015).highly important to take account of temporal variability due to seasonal migrations of seabirds (Labelle et al., 1982).In fact, oil can impact birds by reducing their ability to move and get their feeding (IPIECA-IOGP, 2015).

Marine Mammal
In Libya, literature regarding marine mammals (and marine biota in general) is very limited despite the relatively long coastline of the country (SPA/RAC, 2016).The marine environment associated with the Libyan coastline varies considerably and can be divided according to depth, slope, habitat, and topography (IUCN, 2011).These particular areas are suitable habitats for marine mammals, such as the Farwa lagoon and adjacent areas that are considered of importance for cetaceans.Hence, there are several records of sightings of bottlenose dolphins in this region (SPA/RAC, 2016).Based on this our interview survey with local researchers and fishermen at Farwa Island, Tripoli and Al Garaboly demonstrates that dolphins (bottlenose) are abundant and may be increasing in numbers according to the statements of fishermen and due to their appropriate environment.Sensitivity to an oil spill: The greatest risk to most cetaceans from an oil spill would occur in this area if they surface to breathe in an oil slick and inhale oil and toxic petroleum vapors (Helm et al., 2015).For instance, the Deep-Water Horizon (DWH) oil spill in 2010 impacted the reproduction and health of coastal bottlenose dolphins in the northern Gulf of Mexico (NOAA, 2020).

Results
An oil spill can have a significant impact on the marine ecosystem, the economic coastal activities and the communities that use the resources of the sea.In general, the effects of oil are toxic and threaten birds, sea turtles and fish.Moreover, marine habitats can be affected by cleaning up operations or indirectly through the physical damage they sustain due to the Furthermore, the natural environmental pressure of several socio-economic impacts is predicted.These impacts are summarized by the threat to the salt and fish industries and energy plants that supply electricity for the western Libya region, in addition to the tourism and cultural sites.This is in addition to threatening biodiversity which is used as feeding and nesting for loggerhead turtles and feeding places for migrant birds, especially in Farwa Island.Authorities that are threatened by oil spills have realized the risk; therefore, they developed plans to counteract the risk of marine pollution.Although Libya has not developed a national contingency plan yet, the outcomes of this work could help Libyan authorities identify coastal and marine resource features of the western Libyan coast so they can prepare a framework to map the sensitivity of oil spills that is part of a national contingency plan (NCP), which would lead to reducing the environmental consequences of oil spills in the future.

Conclusion
Like the first study discussing the Libyan coastal resources, this paper covers the Libyan west coast from Abu Kammash to Tripoli (Al Garaboly).Indeed, studies on the coastal resources in Libya is seldom, and this paper attempts to determine effects of oil spills and their impacts on the marine and environmental coastal resources of western Libya.The coast of Abu Kammash city from Ra's Ajdir to Farwa Island, including the Farwa lagoon, is more sensitive to oil spills due to the fact that there are many threatened ecosystems and habitats in this shoreline that include hatching grounds for turtles during May-September, locations of sandy beaches and wetlands areas used for the passage of migrant birds.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Classification of coastal resource categories along the shoreline from Abu Kammash to Tripoli city

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Shows the percentages of the most important fishing production regions on the Libyan coast (IUCN 2011).

Figure 8 .
Figure 8. Maps of Satellite tracking of turtles; A) migratory corridor including Libyan coastline; and B) The foraging destination grounds: Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia (Stokes et al., 2015).
Water birds were counted in a study between 2005 to 2010 about 110 Libyan wetland sites and 101 species of water birds (EGA-RAC/SPA, 2012), as shown in Figure(9).Some of these sites exist on western Libyan coastal beaches, e.g., Farwa Island, Sabkhat Abu Kammash, Sabkhat al Manqub, Al Mallahah and Wadi al Masid.In addition, Farwa Island is a rare wetland type in the Mediterranean and meets the numerical criteria, in terms of bird numbers, for designation as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention (EGA-RAC/SPA, 2012).Sensitivity to an oil spill: Identifying potential seabird sites and feeding areas can provide information to planners on how to avoid oil risk to coastal habitats.Moreover, it is Shehada et al. (2021) Faculty of Marine Resources, Alasmarya Islamic University, Libya.
Review of Potential Effects of Oil Spills on Coastal and Marine Resources…Faculty of Marine Resources, Alasmarya Islamic University, Libya. to oil spills on the western Libyan Coastal, such as Zawiya oil refining port, Mellitah oil terminal and the Offshore Platforms in the Mediterranean Sea.