Protecting our marine and coastal areas from potential oil spills – Oceans Protection Plan
Backgrounder
Canada’s coasts are home to productive ecosystems that support the livelihoods of Indigenous and coastal communities. Under the Oceans Protection Plan, Fisheries and Oceans Canada is bringing together top researchers from across the country and around the world to increase our understanding of how oil spills behave, how best to contain them and clean them up, and how to minimize their environmental impacts.
The $45.5 million Multi-Partner Research Initiative is drawing on the knowledge and experience of oil spill experts in Canada and abroad. The initiative is supporting over 30 projects and will lead to new partnerships, improved knowledge and new technologies that will help raise awareness and mitigate the impacts of oil spills.
While most MPRI funding will go toward research initiatives in Canada such as the project at the Huntsman Marine Science Center, six international organizations also received investments for 12 projects under the Multi-Partner Research Initiative.
Projects announced so far include:
| Recipient | Name of project | Funding amount |
|---|---|---|
| Huntsman Marine Science Centre St. Andrews, New Brunswick (Dr. Benjamin de Jourdan) |
Essential aquatic toxicology data collection associated with alternative response measures | $2,439,983 |
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Canberra, Australia (Dr. Elisabeth Fulton) |
Direct and indirect ecosystem responses to oil spills and options for interventions | $204,101 |
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Canberra, Australia (Dr. Pascal Craw) |
Combined microbial sampler and physical sensor payload for rapid oil spill surveillance at depth | $243,225 |
| Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland, USA (Dr. Joseph Katz) |
Effects of crude oil properties, dispersants and weathering on the breakup of plumes and slicks | $760,000 |
| New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, New Jersey, USA (Dr. Michel C. Boufadel) |
Oil droplet formation from underwater releases with and without the presence of gas at various dispersant-to-oil ratios – implications for herders and dispersant effectiveness when oil reaches the surface | $749,800 |
| New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, New Jersey, USA (Dr. Michel C. Boufadel) |
Capturing the behaviour of oil on the metre scale – oil convergence due to waterfronts and vertical advection | $299,999 |
| New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, New Jersey, USA (Dr. Lin Zhao) |
Impact of particle shape and hydrophobicity on the formation of oil particle aggregates – a combined experimental/numerical investigation leading to formation of a predictive model | $556,025 |
| SINTEF Ocean Trondheim, Norway (Per Daling) |
Artificial energy by water flushing after dispersant treatment in calm seas or iced waters | $45,000 |
| SINTEF Ocean Trondheim, Norway (Per Daling) |
Better characteristics of burned residues from field- and laboratory-generated onsite burning | $110,000 |
| SINTEF Ocean, Trondheim, Norway (Per Daling) | Low sulphur fuels – a new generation of marine fuel oils | $110,000 |
| SINTEF Ocean Trondheim, Norway (Roman Netzer) |
Assessing effectiveness of bio-based agents for oil spill treatment in Arctic and subarctic environments | $40,000 |
| Texas A&M University College Station, Texas, USA (Dr. Scott A. Socolofsky) |
Computer modeling to forecast risks, needs and challenges for responses to offshore oil spills | $400,000 |
| Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA (Dr. Collin Ward) |
Quantifying the effect of oil photochemical oxidation on the performance of chemical herders in Canadian waters | $637,666 |
| Total: | $6,595,799 | |
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