Bioremediation on the Shore after an Oil Spill from the Nakhodka in the Sea of Japan. III. Field Tests of a Bioremediation Agent with Microbiological Cultures for the Treatment of an Oil Spill

We conducted a field test to confirm the effectiveness of a seed culture of petroleum-degrading bacteria, TerraZymeTM (Oppenheimer Biotechnology) for enhancing the biodegradation of heavy oil spilled from the Nakhodka on the shore. We defined two designated sites: one for treatment, and a second site 40 m distant as an untreated control site for the experiments. In each site, we prepared the rocks and concrete blocks polluted by the oil, by placing them in wire cages on the beach. The experiments were carried out for eight weeks. Once a week, we photographed the rocks and concrete blocks, treated their surfaces with TerraZymeTM, and determined the coverage of remaining oil on the substrates from the photographs using digital photographic image analysis. The test results clearly show that TerraZymeTM is able to significantly enhance the biodegradation of oil on the shore.