Spill Response and Impact Assessment

MRAG has an extensive history of working with oil spill response specialists and P&I Clubs to provide assessments of fisheries and aquaculture operations that may have been impacted by a spill incident or vessel grounding. The primary purpose of these assessments is to provide independent expert advice, based on the best-available scientific evidence, that can be used by P&I Clubs and auditors to assess the probable state of losses incurred against subsequent claims from the fisheries sector. Previous projects have been both desk-based; providing literature reviews to characterise affected fisheries or aquaculture operations, and involved in-country fieldwork; where stakeholder consultation or direct observation methods have been implemented to collect primary data. In instances where fisheries have been data-poor, this has included participatory mapping exercises to understand historical fishing patterns, using geographic information systems.

MRAG has further contributed towards a number of environmental and social impact assessments (ESIA), including advising on and assessing the impacts of gas pipeline construction on fishing communities in Turkey, Russia and Bulgaria. As part of this work, MRAG developed a compensation package for the community most likely to be affected and subsequently evaluated the utility of an artificial reef to replace the potential loss of fishing grounds. Additionally, MRAG evaluated the socio-economic impacts of a liquid natural gas (LNG) plant and associated gas pipelines on fisheries and fisher-livelihoods in southern Tanzania. This study involved extensive desk-based literature review supported by in-country fieldwork including water sampling, sediment surveys, coral and fish surveys and stakeholder consultation.