Although there is now a broad consensus on the demand for

monetary compensation for ecological damage caused by oil

spills, this issue of Océanis runs up against a number of on-going

obstacles when it is put into practice. In addition to the difficulties

encountered both in the characterization and in the measurement

of the impacts of an oil spill, from an ecology and ecotoxicology

standpoint, there are also those which are more closely linked to

the economic assessment of environmental damage and to the

procedures used to compensate for it.

These latter questions were discussed by several international

specialists (economists, jurists, oceanographers, experts), during

an international workshop which took place in Paris in May 2006,

held on the premises of the Institut océanographique.

This issue reprints all of these presentations in the form of

academic articles. It thus provides a contemporary review of the

issues, practices and difficulties encountered in assessing and

compensating for environmental damage caused by oil spills.