Oil Pollution in Slovenian Waters: The Threat to the Slovene Coast, Possible Negative Influences of Shipping on an Environment and Its Cultural Heritage

Slovenian waters and the Slovenian coast are situated within and along the Gulf of Trieste at the northernmost part of the Adriatic Sea. Despite the extremely small area concerned, this seascape is rich in cultural heritage ranging from pre-Hellenic hillforts to currently operating traditional saltpans, with cities built mainly in the Venetian style, a region with protected waters and coasts that is passed by a relatively large number of commercial vessels. The absence of a historic calamity here is perhaps a mere function of probability and size. But if that’s been the luck of Slovenian waters, the risk is concomitantly greater with the rapid increase of traffic including dangerous cargos in ships plying in and very near this particularly sensitive shallow sea. And the fact is, accidents have occurred, the fragile ecosystem and rich heritage sites avoiding damage through sheer luck; yet they are increasingly under threat, at the mercy of elements man-made and natural that need only align malignantly for a catastrophe to occur. Case studies show recent events that might well be deemed near misses. Even minor instances of operational discharge represent a determined threat to the health of Slovenian seas.