Pollution: Killer Detergents

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Resorting to emergency techniques much the same as those used recently in Puerto Rico, British cleanup squads sprayed detergents along the coast of Cornwall after the tanker Torrey Canyon went aground last year. Scientists now report that the detergents did more damage to marine life than did the oil.

After months of study, Plymouth Laboratory Director J. E. Smith and his colleagues calculated that thousands of sea birds died from being coated with oil or from swallowing it. But except for the rosy-footed summer tourist, few other shore or sea creatures were seriously bothered by the oil. The detergents, however, killed a significant amount of sea life and seriously upset the ecology in many coastal areas.

Thousands of plants along the coast were destroyed or stunted by the chemicals. On one reef, lobsters, shrimp and crabs were virtually wiped out, starfish and sea urchins vanished. In tidal zones, limpets and other browsing creatures that keep shore lines free of decayed material and control the growth of seaweed were decimated. As a result, portions of the Cornwall coast are overgrown with seaweed this year.

During their research, British scientists discovered evidence that the detergent was the prime killer. Where wind and tides had shielded an occasional oil-spattered cove or bay, most flora and fauna survived.