Amoco Cadiz: Scientists and economists at work
The
State, the company Amoco and private fundings financed a large program
of studies involving a hundred French and American scientists and
economists.
A
wide range of people were involved in research, including staff
from the University of Western Brittany (UBO), the INRA economics
laboratory in Rennes (National Institute for Agronomic Research),
the Brittany Oceanological Centre (Oceans Exploitation Centre (CNEXO),
today Ifremer), the marine station of Roscoff, the ornithological
station of l’île Grande affiliated with the “Ligue
pour la protection des oiseaux” (Bird Protection League) and
from private research departments, each in its area of activity,
to quantify the damages to private properties, public facilities,
economic loss and impact on the environment. They planned to assess
their results five and then ten years later.
The French state and the villages made an account of their response
expenditures and of the financial support allocated to fishermen,
shellfish farmers and tourism professional. Three teams of economists
worked on the quantification of commercial and image losses. Furthermore
twenty-five ecological studies were conducted on various damaged
areas and shoreline types. These studies raised a lot of questions:
- How can roadwork expenses due to pollution response operations be distinguished from normal maintenance?
- How can on-foot fishing losses be quantified, when no statistics are available?
- Is it possible to increase the rate of oil weathering process in places where it cannot be removed?
- Is it possible to accelerate the natural restoration of the seabed?
- Will fish, crustaceans and shellfish born just after the disaster develop normally?
