An oil tanker carrying jet fuel was recently hit by a cargo ship while at anchor 13 miles (21km) off the east coast of England. This set off a series of large explosions and a huge plume of black smoke, while a still unknown quantity of jet fuel has spilled into the sea.
We’re marine ecologists at the University of Hull, the city nearest the incident. We know this coast and these seas very well. While it’s too early to say exactly what the consequences will be, we do know that this spill puts at risk one of Britain’s most important stretches of coastline – both for conservation and for commercial fishing.
