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Metadata: Feasibility Study on the Use of Dispersants in the Bristol Channel in the Event of an Oil Pollution Incident (2002)
Abstract:
The approval and use of oil spill dispersants is regulated in UK waters. The Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 requires that a licence be issued for the deposit of any substance or article in the sea or that an exemption be granted under the Deposits in the Sea (Exemptions) Order 1985. The licensing authority for England and Wales is DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (formerly MAFF - Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food). Specific permission to use oil spill dispersants in shallow water (defined as areas of sea where the water depth is less than 20 metres, as marked on Admiralty charts, or within 1 nautical mile of such area) must be granted by DEFRA. The role of the EG will be to provide information about the sensitivities of resources in the area to oil pollution, so that DEFRA can make a reasoned decision on dispersant use. The BCSEG considered many different relevant factors including the oil spill risks, likely spilled oil behaviour, characteristics of the Bristol Channel and the shoreline and marine resources that could be affected by spilled oil. The consequences of dispersing or not dispersing spilled oil were also considered. As a result of these deliberations, the areas of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary have been designated as dispersant use or non-use zones. These zones are marked on maps for ease of reference. These zones are: - Zone A Where dispersants can be used at any time of the tide - Zone B Where dispersants can be used (but only with DEFRA's specific permission) on an outgoing tide from High Water until High Water + 5 hours - Zone C Where dispersants can be used (but only with DEFRA's specific permission) on an outgoing tide from High Water until High Water + 2 hours - Zone D Where dispersants are not to be used at any time . In the event of oil pollution occurring in the Bristol Channel an Environment Group (EG) will be activated to consider the environmental consequences of the spill and the most suitable ways in which damage can be minimised. The use of oil spill dispersants is a response method that might be used. The Bristol Channel Standing Environment Group (BCSEG) commissioned this report to describe the factors in the Bristol Channel that need to be considered when deciding to use, or not to use, oil spill dispersants.
Data holder:
Natural Resources Wales (NRW)
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| Other details | ||
| Internal code | Internally assigned metadata identifier | 8758 |
| Title | The title is used to provide a brief and precise description of the dataset such as 'Date', 'Originating organisation/programme', 'Location' and 'Type of survey'. All acronyms and abbreviations should be reproduced in full. | Feasibility Study on the Use of Dispersants in the Bristol Channel in the Event of an Oil Pollution Incident (2002) |
| File Identifier | The File Identifier is a code, preferably a GUID, that is globally unique and remains with the same metadata record even if the record is edited or transferred between portals or tools. | NRW_DS113767 |
| Resource Identifier | This is the code assigned by the data owner. | 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313133373637 |
| Resource type | The resource type will likely be a dataset but could also be a series (collection of datasets with a common specification) or a service. | dataset |
| Start date | This describes the date the resource starts. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2002-01-01 |
| End date | This describes the date the resource ends. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2002-12-31 |
| Frequency of updates | This describes the frequency with which the resource is modified or updated i.e. a monitoring programme that samples once per year has a frequency that is described as 'annually'. | notPlanned |
| Abstract | The abstract provides a clear and brief statement of the content of the resource. | The approval and use of oil spill dispersants is regulated in UK waters. The Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 requires that a licence be issued for the deposit of any substance or article in the sea or that an exemption be granted under the Deposits in the Sea (Exemptions) Order 1985. The licensing authority for England and Wales is DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (formerly MAFF - Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food). Specific permission to use oil spill dispersants in shallow water (defined as areas of sea where the water depth is less than 20 metres, as marked on Admiralty charts, or within 1 nautical mile of such area) must be granted by DEFRA. The role of the EG will be to provide information about the sensitivities of resources in the area to oil pollution, so that DEFRA can make a reasoned decision on dispersant use. The BCSEG considered many different relevant factors including the oil spill risks, likely spilled oil behaviour, characteristics of the Bristol Channel and the shoreline and marine resources that could be affected by spilled oil. The consequences of dispersing or not dispersing spilled oil were also considered. As a result of these deliberations, the areas of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary have been designated as dispersant use or non-use zones. These zones are marked on maps for ease of reference. These zones are: - Zone A Where dispersants can be used at any time of the tide - Zone B Where dispersants can be used (but only with DEFRA's specific permission) on an outgoing tide from High Water until High Water + 5 hours - Zone C Where dispersants can be used (but only with DEFRA's specific permission) on an outgoing tide from High Water until High Water + 2 hours - Zone D Where dispersants are not to be used at any time . In the event of oil pollution occurring in the Bristol Channel an Environment Group (EG) will be activated to consider the environmental consequences of the spill and the most suitable ways in which damage can be minimised. The use of oil spill dispersants is a response method that might be used. The Bristol Channel Standing Environment Group (BCSEG) commissioned this report to describe the factors in the Bristol Channel that need to be considered when deciding to use, or not to use, oil spill dispersants. |
| Lineage | Lineage includes the background information, history of the sources of data, data quality statements and methods. | The Bristol Channel has the second largest tidal range in the world and has been the focus of many hydrodynamic studies. A recent study, Bristol Channel Marine Aggregates - Resources and Constraints (Posford Duvivier, 2000) contains comprehensive details of many aspects of the Bristol Channel, including: - Tides (range, flow patterns and residual currents) - Wind (directions and speeds) - Waves (height and direction) - Sediment distributions - Macrofauna distributions The Severn Estuary / Mor Hafren Shoreline Management Plan (Gifford Associated Consultants, 1998) also contains many detailed maps of many physical characteristics such as seabed sediments. No new studies have been carried out on these aspects for the preparation of the report. Data is unique and irreplaceable. Important operational and decision making data. |
| Related keywords | ||
| Keyword | General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Environmental monitoring facilities |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Habitats and biotopes | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Celtic Sea oil developments | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Oil Pollution, Preparedness, Response and Co-Operation (OPRC) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | oil pollution | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | feasibility study | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Bristol Channel | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | oil contamination | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | oil dispersants | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Oil Pollution Research Unit (OPRU) | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | marine biodiversity | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Pollution events | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Oil spillage | |
| Geographical coverage | ||
| North | The northern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 51.821733 |
| East | The eastern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | -2.178114 |
| South | The southern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 50.957676 |
| West | The western-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | -4.18938 |
| Regional sea | Wales (WLS) | |
| England (ENG) | ||
| Responsible organisations | ||
| Role | The point of contact is person or organisation with responsibility for the creation and maintenance of the metadata for the resource. | pointOfContact |
| Organisation name | Natural Resources Wales (NRW) | |
| Delivery point | Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales | |
| enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk | ||
| URL | http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en | |
| Role | The owner is the person or organisation that owns the resource. | owner |
| Organisation name | Natural Resources Wales (NRW) | |
| Delivery point | Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales | |
| enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk | ||
| URL | http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en | |
| Role | The custodian is the person or organisation that accepts responsibility for the resource and ensures appropriate care and maintenance. If a dataset has been lodged with a Data Archive Centre for maintenance then this organisation is be entered here. | custodian |
| Organisation name | Natural Resources Wales (NRW) | |
| Delivery point | Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales | |
| enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk | ||
| URL | http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en | |
| Role | The originator is the person or organisation who created, collected or produced the resource. | originator |
| Organisation name | Lewis | |
| Delivery point | A. Lewis, 121 Laleham Road, Staines, Middlesex, TW18 2EG | |
| enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk | ||
| URL | http://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/splash?orig=/ | |
| Role | The distributor is the person or organisation that distributes the resource. | distributor |
| Organisation name | Natural Resources Wales (NRW) | |
| Delivery point | Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales | |
| enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk | ||
| URL | http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en | |
| Dataset constraints | ||
| 20.1 Limitations on Public Access - Access constraints | This states `otherRestrictions` from ISO vocabulary RestrictionCode and is an INSPIRE/GEMINI requirement. | otherRestrictions |
| 20.2 Limitations on Public Access - Other constraints | This states any limitations on access to the data. Multiple occurences are allowed here. One entry shall be from the INSPIRE Metadata registry and the other free text should be part of the resource `Have specific limitations`. | This data is jointly owned by NRW and English Nature. There are no access restrictions to this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely. |
| no limitations | ||
| 21.1 Conditions for Access and Use - Use constraints | This states `otherRestrictions` from ISO vocabulary RestrictionCode and is an INSPIRE/GEMINI requirement. | otherRestrictions |
| 21.2 Conditions for Access and Use - Other constraints | This states any constraints on use of the data. Multiple conditions can be recorded for different parts of the data resource. If no conditions apply, then `No condtions apply` is recorded. This uses free text. | © CNC/NRW and English Nature 2002. There are no use restrictions on this data. Recipients may re-use, reproduce, disseminate this data free of charge in any format or medium, provided they do so accurately, acknowledging both the source and the copyright of NRW/ English Nature and do not use it in a misleading context. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose, that dissemination or publishing does not result in duplication and that it is fairly interpreted. Advice on interpretation should be sought where required. To avoid re-using old data, users should periodically obtain the latest version from the original source. |
| Available data formats | ||
| Data format | Format in which digital data can be provided for transfer | Documents |
| Version info | ||
| Date of publication | The publication date of the resource or if previously unpublished the date that the resource was made publicly available via the MEDIN network. | 2002-12-31 |
| Harvest date | The date which this record has been (re)harvested from the provider. | 2026-04-19 |
| Metadata date | The date when the content of this metadata record was last updated. | 2026-03-03 |
| Metadata standard name | The name of the metadata standard used to create this metadata | MEDIN |
| Metadata standard version | The version of the MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard used to create the metadata record | 3.1.2 |