In the latest set of missteps by the two Japanese Government Disaster Relief teams of 13 specialists on the ground in Mauritius, there was outrage on Friday that now risks escalating into a major diplomatic incident. In their latest set of reports on Friday, the Deputy Team Leader of the Japanese mission, Noriaki Sakaguchi, reported that the mangroves did not have oil damage.
This reporting that there was no oil in Mauritian mangroves’ was prominently reported in Japan’s English-language press of the Japanese Government-backed NHK-Japan as well as The Mainichi Newspaper.
These reports went against accounts from Japan’s own team just 11 days ago that showed how extensive the damage had been seen among the corals and mangroves in Mauritius, UN reports that described over 30 km of Mauritian coastline being heavily damaged, satellite imagery showing over 27 square kilometers of coral had been covered in oil, and thousands of images and videos have been shared on social media daily showing how much oil has been absorbed by the extensive mangrove roots that are critical fish spawning grounds for the large coral lagoon of the entire East Coast of Mauritius.
Sakaguchi himself had warned on 25 August, that the rear of the Wakashio appeared to be grinding against the coral reef as waves push it back and forth. “If this situation continues, it could cause stress to the corals and could kill them.”
He said efforts to remove sediment could harm the coral, which is also being damaged by ropes holding oil fences set up to stop the spill reaching shore. Removing the remaining wreckage appears to be the only solution to the problem.
The Japanese team had also confirmed on 25 August that the spilled oil had reached the soft soil of mangrove forests along the coastline, and the team had warned while there is no evidence of mangrove death yet, the oil could kill plants in the protected area in coming months.
These slow, contradictory and inaccurate reports have fueled the strong backlash that is growing against the Japanese Government’s involvement in Mauritius 42 days since the Japanese vessel first crashed against the pristine coral reefs. Japan’s Government involvement is now being viewed more along the lines of trying to protect several major Japanese companies, operator of the Wakashio, $12 billion Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and shipowner Nagashiki Shipping, as well as Japan’s main shipping insurer the Japan P&I club, than help the people or nature of Mauritius.
There has been strong criticism in Mauritius at what is being viewed as pseudo-science by the Japanese teams sent to Mauritius so far, and a lack of local transparency and reporting by this team.
All this has spurred calls from The Pope, Sir Richard Branson and the maritime industry press themselves, to call for more ethical industry practices.
In a sign that even the Mauritian Government is embarrassed and under pressure with Japan’s slow and weak scientific efforts, an important trade deal with Japan’s main rival, China was announced at a Cabinet meeting on Friday 4 September. The trade deal was ratified at the Cabinet meeting and extends preferred trading status for 8,547 Mauritian products into China, which is a market of growing importance to Mauritius as China looks to take on the US as the largest economy in the world and Mauritius looks to relaunch its economy.
Such a trade deal comes amid rising tensions in Asia between Japan and China and is being interpreted as a warning to the current weak efforts by the Japanese Government in response to the Wakashio oil spill.
Japan’s secretive approach of what has happened in Mauritius is now placing it at odds against major countries that had been offering scientific support to Mauritius and that Japan had once counted as allies, such as the USA, Australia, Canada, UK, France. These countries had all been offering the support of scientists with deep subject matter expertise in each of Mauritius’ complex and rich variety of species and ecosystems. However, this expertise and international collaboration appears to have been rebuffed in preference for only Japanese scientists despite this region being a global biodiversity hotspot with several internationally protected sites.
As Japan goes through a Prime Ministerial leadership contest following the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister on 28 August citing health reasons, 22 days after the oil spill from the Wakashio began on 6 August, and as 50 whales and dolphins washed up dead on Mauritian shores starting on 26 August, rectifying the events in Mauritius will surely be an important agenda item for the new Japanese Prime Minister.
At a time when Japan had been reaching out to many African and small island states as part of Prime Minister’s Shinzo Abe’s strategy to build strong diplomatic and economic ties around the world, much of this strategy is being unwound with the Japanese Government’s haphazard response in Mauritius.
Many African and small island nations have been keeping a close eye on the slow and obstructionist approach taken by the Japanese Government, where it was only revealed this week that no biodiversity scientist with deep knowledge of oil spills in these important biological ecosystems in Mauritius, had even been on the ground in the 42 days since the Wakashio had grounded on 25 July.