Importance of environmental factors in coastal sensitivity in north Adriatic

In an event of a major oil spill of tier III occurring in the area of North Adriatic, there is a high probability that the oil will reach the surrounding coastline due to the region’s location in an enclosed bay. Should an oil spill occur, the coast should be protected to prevent the oil from polluting and damaging it. However, since first-team responders do not always have enough resources and equipment to protect every part of the coastline, they need to have priority plans in the form of a coastal sensitivity map. Coastal sensitivity mapping needs to take into account three pillars of sensitivity factors: the socioeconomic, the geomorphological and environmental pillar. So far, no sensitivity map has been produced in the region. The North Adriatic territory is spread over three countries, namely Slovenia, Croatia and Italy. Due to the lack of coastal sensitivity studies and maps of the area, the three countries decided to join their research teams under the North Adriatic Incident Response System project (NAMIRS) and conduct the necessary studies. This included a survey that sought the subjective opinion on the value of each of the sensitivity factors from invited stakeholders involved in either oil spill clean-up or environmental protection activities. The survey was conducted in the form of three workshops, each held in one of the participating countries. Environmental factors were considered in more detail as they are given the highest priority under national legislation, compared to unprotected areas and areas where other sensitivity factors are present. The analysed results of the workshops in this paper differ greatly from the official values of the level of protection set by law.