Oil spill information system for Mauritius: oil spill shoreline sensitivity mapping & analysis

Abstract

An important feature for environmental management of the coastline is the knowledge of the shore types found around the island, its biological community, its exposure to wave action, etc. in EIA studies, assessment of the sensibility of a site to spilled oil and the associated responses, inventory of coastal resources, socio-economic development and so forth. This paper uses the GIS approach to map the shoreline of mainland Mauritius according to their sensitivity to spilled oil on a 1:25000 scale. The different shore types found (eleven of them) along the coastline were ranked according to their sensitivity. From the full map, we can compute the sensitivity/mean sensitivity of selected regions and the % shore length of each shore type. Also, the most sensitive zones could be spotted; the sensitivity being the least where the coral reef is the least. Further sensitivity ranking takes into account the biological resources and the socio-economic resources. These together with oil spill model capable of predicting the movement, spreading, weathering and shoreline impact of spilt oil under the influence of current flows, weather and wave climates constitutes an important step towards the development of the marine oil spill information system for Mauritius (MOSISM).