80 / Chapter 3
Questions about whether to rehabilitate, however, skirt the issue
of reducing vulnerability. One suggestion for doing so, and perhaps
the most obvious one, involves reducing our use of oil through con-
servation and the development of alternative fuel sources. Unfor-
tunately, our best efforts will not free us entirely from the need
for oil. Even renewable energy does not offer the solution. Experts
predict that renewable sources will supply less than 10 percent of
our energy requirements over the next thirty years.^56 Meanwhile,
global energy demand will continue to rise. Fossil fuels will con-
tinue to meet most of our energy needs because they are simply
more economical and easier to store and transport. Moreover, even
if we somehow stopped using petroleum, natural seeps would still
leak oil into the marine environment.
Although we cannot evacuate birds and wildlife, there are ways
to keep them away from oil. Research has demonstrated experimen-
tal success with systems that deter birds from landing on or swim-
ming in oiled areas. The deterrence system uses sound, light, or
motion to scare the birds away, functioning essentially as an “auto-
mated scarecrow.”^57 After an initial period of success, however,
birds become habituated to the deterrent. In response, research-
ers have experimented with radar-activated systems, which activate
the deterrent only when birds are present. These have not yet been
used in an actual oil spill, and although they would be costly to
implement, such systems could save countless birds, as well as the
money and labor required for rescue. Unfortunately, there are no
deterrents yet available for diving birds, who are usually the most
heavily oiled victims of spills.
Policy and legislation are certainly a large part of the solution.
Each oil spill has brought new regulations intended to minimize the
potential damage in the future. Predictably, each set of regulations
has an attendant set of loopholes. For example, the Torrey Canyon
incident prompted the International Maritime Organization to con-
vene the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution
from Ships.^58 The resulting treaties regulate the operational and
accidental discharge of oil at sea and provide sanctions for viola-
tion. However, through the system of “open registry,” also called