Causes and Consequences of the Black Sea Ecosystem Pollution with Petroleum Products

Until the beginning of the 21st century concerns related to the management of protected areas have been reduced to the voluntary initiatives of nature lovers, rarely materializing in specific conservation measures carried out by the authorities or administrators of those areas. As the concern for the management of protected areas is relatively new in Romania and the information related to this subject is relatively scarce, especially those regarding marine ecosystems, we considered necessary this study on the management of marine protected areas in relation to oil pollution. Marine protected areas, in particular, delimited as areas where the main purpose is the protection of nature and cultural values, are important for all segments of society. They have great potential to become models of harmonious society development, promoting more than other protected areas the sustainable resource management. At the same time, the management measures promoted, sometimes imposed, can affect the communities inside or in the immediate vicinity of the areas, and can significantly influence the development of the economy. Recently (as a reference 1970-2020), the pollution of the marine environment with petroleum products has gained dramatic accents. The maritime transport of oil, the exploration and exploitation of marine deposits, their processing in refineries located in the vicinity of the coastal area, to which are added other anthropogenic activities, have generated and still generate a number of risk factors, which involve numerous pollution incidents. Navigation accidents of large oil tanks or incidents at offshore drilling rigs caused, in the same period, major environmental disasters, with the most severe consequences. Marine ecosystems in polluted regions have thus suffered major losses and disturbances, which have been felt for a long time. Through this paper we aim to review some aspects of oil pipeline pollution of the Planetary Ocean, respectively the associated pollution in the Black Sea ecosystem. Following the analyzes carried out on the basis of the data from the consulted literature, as well as following other observations, we came to the conclusion that the protected areas associated with the Black Sea, as well as the marine ecosystem itself, are far from being affected by such accidents.