"The toxic hydrocarbons released from spilled oil will bleach the coral reefs and they will eventually die," said Professor Richard Steiner, an international oil spill adviser and a marine biologist in Alaska, US.

Last year Professor Steiner helped the government of the Solomon Islands when a ship spilled oil on the coral reef off its coast:

"Although the oil spill wasn't large - just a few hundred tonnes of oil - the damage to the coral reefs there have been massive."