世界海洋的石油污染是一个引起大家普遍关注的问题。早在1926年,海洋学家罗伯茨已经提到“近年来,石油污染已经占很大比重。石油污染了海滩,破坏了舒适的滨海风景,它也是使海港发生火灾和无数的海鸟悲惨的死去的主要原因,可以断言,石油污染对鱼类和其它的海洋生物也产生了有害的影响”。海洋大范围遭受石油污染的情况在70年代初达到了顶峰。由赫尔达勒在1971年所进行的一次横跨大西洋的科学考察航行中,在北大西洋到处充满了漂浮的沥青焦油黑块,以至于在全部航程中,只有三天没有看到 Oil pollution in the world’s oceans is a matter of general concern. As early as 1926, Roberts, an oceanographer, already mentioned that “oil pollution has accounted for a large proportion in recent years. Oil polluted the beaches and damaged the pleasant coastal landscape. It is also a tragedy for the seaport fire and countless seabirds The main reason for this is the assertion that oil pollution also has a detrimental effect on fish and other marine life. ” The wide-scale oil pollution of the oceans reached its peak in the early 1970s. During a transatlantic scientific expedition by Hurdal in 1971, the North Atlantic was flooded with buoyant bitumen tar black so much that only three days of all voyages were missed