Oil Pollution and Its Effect on Wildlife "OIL POLLUTION AND ITS EFFECT ON WILDLIFE" Contamination of the oceans by oil spillage is not a rare occurrence. It is happening all over the world every day, fouling coastlines, killing animals and destroying fisheries. BODY: In 1987, more than 3.5 million tons of oil were released into the oceans around the world. Out of that only 28 percent of the spillage was accidental; the remaining 72 percent was deliberate, illegal actions. The sources of oil spillage were: Washing tanks at sea: A lot of the illegal pollution is caused by cleaning of oil tanks at sea.