GIS-Based Coastal Information System For Oil Spills Management

A coastal zone can be defined as extending from the coastal plains to the outer edge of the continental shelves, represent one of the most dynamic of natural environments and one of the most important context in which human activity, economy, ecology and geomorphology interact. Numerous examples of competition for space, over-exploitation of resurces, degradation of natural habitats, pollution, and other user conflicts attest to increasing exhaustion of coastal space and resources, Multiple use of coastal space, the implications of coastal processes on human society, and the fragility of marine environment and its coastal fringe all require thet rational, integrated and sustainable management strategies be developed, Coastal Zone Management (CZM) means planning, implementing the sustainable use of coastal resources. One of the problem plays role in imbalancement of the coastal area functions is oil pollution and spillage, resulting from exploitation, extraction, transportation or disposal activities. In the case of occurrence of oil pollution in coastal marine waters, the first activity should be determination of priorities for protection against the pollution [5]. Location of the environmental sensitive areas along the coast, pollution occurrence point and its distance from the sensitive areas, kind and amounts of occurred oil pollution, in addition to the time of pollution occurrence are of parameters influencing on determination of the priorities.