There needs to be a coordinated global effort that focusses on the well-being of marine life and protects it from environmental disasters
As India grapples with the pandemic, all other calamities visiting the country seem to have taken a backseat. What else accounts for the fact that there is almost no awareness or hue and cry over a major oil leak in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) among the masses? On July 25, MV Wakashio, a Japanese-owned oil tanker travelling from China to Brazil, ran aground near a reef at Pointe d’Esny in the south-eastern part of Mauritius. Then the ship’s hull cracked, which led to the leakage of its cargo into the Indian Ocean. The ship was carrying 4,000 tonnes of oil and out of this 1,000 tonnes of fuel has already seeped into the Indian Ocean over the last one week.
The proximity of the incident to Mauritius might lead one to think that India has been spared the disastrous consequences arising out of an oil spill. But unfortunately, this is not so. Due to the strong oceanic currents, the oil spill is not only threatening the marine life in the Maldives and Mauritius but it is also severely compromising aquatic life around the Lakshadweep island. The position of the stranded vessel, the fast-leaking oil and structural damage to the ship are all currently posing multiple challenges to the Mauritian and Indian authorities, who are closely observing the situation. This is particularly serious, considering the latest updates which indicate that the ship is on the verge of breaking apart.
The present disaster is a death knell for the delicate coral reefs in the IOR, particularly the area where the stricken ship is located. Corals are marine life made up of calcium carbonate and these corals have algae inside their tissue. There is a symbiotic relationship between the corals and the algae. The moment chemicals and oils cover coral reefs, the algae get expelled from them, leading to the corals drying up and getting bleached. This is an ecologically ruinous process that is irreversible and what makes matters worse is that around 25 per cent of the fish in the ocean depend on healthy coral reefs for their survival. The oil that has so far leaked into the ocean must have put to death countless species of aquatic life. The worst part is that this disaster could possibly have been avoided.
Excellent satellite imagery and geo-position data of the vessel were available to the Mauritian authorities well in advance. But in spite of this, there was no rapid initiative from the concerned officials to aid the tanker.
Considering the fact that the ship stayed aground for 13 days, leaking oil, without any intervention from the Mauritian Government is shocking to say the least. If the scale of the disaster was beyond the capability of Mauritius to manage, the country should have immediately requested international assistance. But this did not happen and as a result, pristine environs are now smeared with oil that will take ages to dissipate and may never go away.
This is a concerning trend which needs immediate highlighting. The world in general, and India in particular, is getting used to living with pollution. For instance, the people of Mumbai have got used to beaches polluted by oil tar balls, which are visible for the entire stretch of the sand. These tar balls are caused by accidental oil spills or oil tankers deliberately flushing their ballast water into the sea, leading to toxic chemicals and fuel getting flushed into the water that eventually washes up ashore in coastal cities such as Mumbai. Unfortunately, these conditions are present only in those countries which are lax in their environmental commitments. The same negligence or similar pollution of the beaches is hard to spot in European nations that have coastal cities.
Oil spills pose a continuous threat to marine life. According to the International Tanker Owner Pollution Federation (ITOP) data, there were five major oil spills around the world in 2019. The worst perhaps was the 2019 Brazilian oil spill that contaminated nearly 3,000 km of the coastline. According to IntechOpen, 3.2 million tonnes of oil is released into the environment in a year from all sources. But the chief recipient of this oil is the ocean. How devastating an oil spill can prove to the environment can be understood by studying the Exxon Valdez oil spill which leaked 11 million tonnes of oil into the sea near Alaska. As a result of this disaster, nearly 35,000 sea birds were found dead in the Gulf of Alaska and countless fish and marine animals died, too.
Too late, Mauritius has declared an environmental emergency. But this is not the first oil spill, nor will it be the last. There needs to be a coordinated global effort that focusses on the well-being of marine life. For this to happen, the activity of oil tankers and all ships has to be closely monitored. India must set up a special task force that accounts for every tanker that accesses the IOR. The discharges from these tankers in the form of ballast waters and potential oil spills must be checked and prevented. Any violation that threatens marine life must be punished with stiff penalties and cancellation of sailing rights through the specific oceanic freight corridors. These penalties may not be enough but they can act as deterrents and give marine life a chance to flourish.
(The writer is an environmental journalist)
