The first phase of a project devoted to the exploitation of laser induced fluorescence for detection of oil leaks under ice is presented. The basic principle is as follows: The radiation from a nitrogen laser, used as an excitation source, goes through the ice and irradiates a layer of oil under the ice. The oil fluorescence , which emits radiations in the range of about 5 nm, can pass back through the ice and be detected. Once the prominence of sea ice fluorescence was established and measured to be intense under certain conditions, it was shown that an absolute fluorescence detection could not be used to reveal leaks of oil underneath the ice. A detection technique based on spectral filtering which transmit mainly the fluorescent emission from oil is investigated and shown to be a feasible technique within certain limits.