More than 10 brands of dispersants are ocially approved for use in Israel. Their application along the Israeli Mediterranean coast has been certifed by the Ministry of the Environment under CEDRE guidelines (Anon, 1999). The possible application of these materials in Eilat's coral reef (northern Red Sea), however, has not yet been approved, waiting for an additional critical examination of their impacts. This stems from the belief that tropical near-shore ecosystems are rated lower on recovery processes than temperate habitats due to their high vulnerability to pollutants (Thorhaug, 1989). Additionally, with regard to marine pollutants effects, standards should be determined on tropical organisms directly, and not on their temperate counterparts, which are probably less sensitive (Thorhaug, 1989).