Efforts were under way July 18 to contain and clean up a large oil slick after pipeline explosions at northeastern China's Dalian Xingang port. Maritime workers on 20 boats were sent to install fencing to stop the spilled oil from spreading further in Dalian's Xingang Harbor. [CFP]

In a report dated July 16, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said 2,624 dead animals had been collected after the recent oil slick, including 2,095 birds, 467 sea turtles, 61 dolphins and other mammals, and one reptile.

The smaller sea creatures, such as plankton, are also easily affected by offshore oil leaks, scientists warn. Their massive die-off will cause larger, longer problems for the affected regions.

"If you affect those communities in any way, you affect the entire food chain. If the phytoplankton and zooplankton are killed, it's curtains," said John Caruso, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor at Tulane University.

In Dalian, local authorities said the accident has not caused air pollution.

"We have set up 20 air-quality supervision machines in the nearby region and 10 on the sea. According to the data we have collected, the air quality is still in the category of state standards and will not affect people's health," Wu said.

But an oil leak's impact on local fisheries and tourism industries, too, is well documented. The gulf leak off the US coast resulted in a "fisheries disaster" declaration in three American states. At the height of the disaster in June, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration closed commercial and recreational fishing in about 36 percent of all federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Time Magazine quoted analysts who said the initial losses for the fishing industry amounted to $2.5 billion, while the state of Florida alone could lose $3 billion in tourism income.

Fishing and tourism industries are among the pillar livelihoods in the Dalian area. In Beijing, some seafood stores have stopped purchasing from Dalian. A woman at a Shuangqing Road wholesale market said that she is now buying from Shandong, Hebei or Guangdong provinces. And some seafood restaurants that sell Dalian seafood are trying to find other resources if the contamination is proved.

As for the tourism industry, if past experiences are any indication, the future is far from optimistic. Two decades after a massive oil leak in Alaska - the largest spill until the recent disaster - persistent studies by the World Wildlife Foundation and groups of scientists found that as of 2009, oil from the Exxon Valdez, the tanker responsible for the slick, can still be found along many Alaskan beaches.

Although the impact has not been felt yet, experts say that the beaches close to the port could be affected soon. And if it is not put under control on time, other beaches could see a decrease of tourists too.