The drastic fallout of a “catastrophic” oil spill in pristine waters off the coast of Africa could last decades, Australian and global conservation groups say.
The Japanese bulk carrier ship MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef about 1.6km off Mauritius on July 25, and prolonged pounding by heavy surf caused the vessel to crack about two weeks later.
It spilled an estimated 1000 tonnes of oil about a quarter of the ship’s total cargo into the Indian Ocean near the internationally-recognised Blue Bay Marine Park, polluting the island’s once untouched coastline.
Although the oil leak was stopped, the ship’s hull was continuing to crack, prompting fears that the remaining fuel would gush into the sea.
The spill has so far extended about 27 square kilometres around the Wakashio.
While that is dramatically less than some of the world’s largest spills, such as the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon spill that affected 180,000 square kilometres of ocean in the Gulf of Mexico, advocates say the Mauritian incident presents severe environmental risks.
“We’ve got a lagoon, you’ve got the perfect storm of coral reefs, seagrasses and mangroves and those are some of the most sensitive ocean habitats we have on the planet,” Darren Kindleysides, CEO of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, told 9News.com.au.
“Even a small amount of oil in those sensitive environments can have a large impact.
“That’s quite a lot of oil into this environment it clearly has the potential to be a very nasty spill.”
Workers have rushed in recent days to pump thousands of tonnes of additional fuel still on-board the ship away from the vessel to prevent it entering the ocean and causing further damage.
By Tuesday, about 1000 tons of the fuel had been pumped out of the stranded ship into small tankers nearby, according to a statement from the Wakashio’s owner, Nagashiki Shipping.
Despite the immediate emergency response, the effects of damaging oil entering such a sensitive ecosystem will extend beyond the ocean, John Tanzer, the World Wildlife Fund’s global oceans leader, told 9News.com.au.
“Yes, there’s the short term effects in the cleanup that’s urgent now but of course these effects in terms of fish life and the recovery of corals and associated mangroves and the impact on jobs from a tourism perspective go on for a long time,” he said.
“There’s going to be die-off of corals and that doesn’t recover The legacy of this incident, I don’t think is an exaggeration (to say) it’ll be around for years at least.
“Even when the superficial oil is removed, the visible oil is removed, it doesn’t mean the toxic effects aren’t ongoing and the restoration work both by nature and by people will be long running, unfortunately.”
Of the 1000 tons of oil that seeped from the ship, about 460 tonnes has already been scooped out of the ocean by thousands of volunteers who have scrambled to protect the coral reef as much as possible.
The cleanup and recovery efforts, however, present their own major implications, Mr Kindleysides said.
“When oil breaks down it breaks down into certain toxic components and you can see that having an impact on the coral strip, the growth and reproduction of other marine life as well,” he said.
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