Socioeconomic vulnerability of communities on the Brazilian coast to the largest oil spill (2019–2020) in tropical oceans

On the Impact of Brazil's Largest Recent Oil Spill on Regional Oceans

“…Sampling done in October 2019 in the same area previously sampled in 2013 and 2014 shows that more than 95% of the unconsolidated sediment samples, including some corals, had some evidence of oil (Figure 3). This is a striking contrast with samples done in the same region with the same methodology in two previous consecutive years (2013 and 2014), which showed no evidence of oil on the seabed and was evidenced by [4] . Figure 3 shows maps from 2013 and 2014 published data and no mention of oil in the sediment study; and samples collected in 2019 (Figure 4) with oil evidences on 95% of samples.…”

“…In late July 2019, Brazil passively witnessed its first major oil spill disaster, quickly reaching about 3000 km of the country's northeast coast [1][2][3][4][5] , which holds one of the main marine diversity areas in the South Atlantic [6] . Although the peak of the spill seems to have been in September [7] , the oil arrived on beaches and in estuaries until Distributed under creative commons license 4.0 at least the end of 2019 (Figure 1).…”

“…Even though some of these important articles report the largest accident, they lack policies and research regarding severity of oil spills, environmental toxicity of the oil, and acute and chronic toxicity to communities (Figure 2). Besides that, the adverse impacts of the oil spill disaster upon Brazil's environment, economy and society were previously described mostly in Portuguese [4,7,[15][16][17] which unfortunately lacks international outreach and visibility. Fewer articles, with more impact [2,4,13,[18][19][20][21][22] have brought to attention information on the oil spill along Brazil's northeast and southeast seaboard, trying to find answers and fill data gaps on the geochemistry and identification of the source of the oily material.…”

“…Besides that, the adverse impacts of the oil spill disaster upon Brazil's environment, economy and society were previously described mostly in Portuguese [4,7,[15][16][17] which unfortunately lacks international outreach and visibility. Fewer articles, with more impact [2,4,13,[18][19][20][21][22] have brought to attention information on the oil spill along Brazil's northeast and southeast seaboard, trying to find answers and fill data gaps on the geochemistry and identification of the source of the oily material. Discussion about environmental monitoring and response measures that must be implemented to minimize the ecological, economic, and social effects of the spill; which is particularly relevant in areas with high tropical biodiversity while experiencing high social inequality, which is presently the case of this northeastern accident in according to [3] .…”

Oil Spill Detection Using Fluorometric Sensors: Laboratory Validation and Implementation to a FerryBox and a Moored SmartBuoy

“…Oil spills are a major threat to the marine ecosystems, local communities and economy (Samiullah, 1985;Farrington, 2014;Jørgensen et al, 2019;Câmara et al, 2021;Sandifer et al, 2021). The research into the consequences of oil pollution has been long and extensive.…”