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Oil spills or not?
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Issues on oil spills in the UAE waters filled the news last month. Hotel officials said their business was affected. Professional and leisure divers also expressed dismay at frequent oil spills. Port officials, on the other hand, pass on the blame to the illegal washing of tankers and vessels.
At issue was the “Astro-Lupus” oil spill on 23 May. Astro Lopus laden with Arabian Light crude oil en route to India collided with a Ro/Ro vessel SAFARI proceeding into the Gulf. The collision resulted in a hole of Astro Lopus’ No. 3 port side cargo tank, causing a 620 cubic metres (700 tonnes) oil spill 57 nautical miles off Fujairah.
“This oil spill happened outside the territorial areas of UAE. However, we were kept on stand-by. Fortunately, the spill did not reach our shorelines,” said Captain Tamar Masoud, Harbour Master, Fujairah Ports. Astro Lopus vessel’s P&I Club contacted Fairdeal Marine Services to provide clean up services.
“The clean up operation was successfully completed on 26 May 2005,” said Abdalla El-Suleiman, Manager of Environmental Affairs, Fairdeal. “A primary survey of the incident area showed that a light sheen extending for a distance of three nautical miles was spreading in a North Easterly direction from casualty.
An area of nine square nautical miles was affected.
“The spill Response plan was coordinated in conjunction with other interested Environmental organisations, including MEMAC, ITOPF and the
Iranina Coastguard. Containment under the circumstances was considered to be impractical. Only approved oil spill dispersant has been recommended and applied at the sight of the sheen.”
Weeks after the Astro Lopus spill, reports came in that oil slicks had again polluted the shores. Satish Gujaran, Front Office Supervisor of Sandy Beach Motel along with staff of Le Meridien said that oil slicks washed up on beaches along the east Coast on the night of 19 June.
Denying oil spill
However, port authorities denied this ‘oil spill’. “No oil spill had ocured,”said Masoud in an interview with Offshore Arabia. “These things occasionally happen due to frequent ship transportation and also due to the direction of the wind. But this thing is common, and is therefore a minor issue.”
Confirming that no oil spill had occurred, Khamis Bu Amim, Recso’s Chairman and Dubai Petroleum’s Vice President explained: “We have to be very careful in using the term ‘oil spill’ or ‘oil slick’, because oil spill means spillage of pure crude oil. When we talk of oil spill, we talk of major oil spill, say, resulting from vessel or tank collision.
“What is happening in the Gulf is mostly ship-related, where incidental drops of oil happen during ship transportation, loading and unloading and other ship operations.”
El-Suleiman added: “More than 80 tankers pass through the straight of Hormouz daily. In this area and in other other international waters, some vessels throw wastes and oil in the water – and these, due to the action of the winds – reach Gulf’s shoreline, particularly in the East Coast of UAE."
Different opinion
An oil spill expert who requested his identity to remain anonymous said that while it has been said that it is impossible to catch these vessels illegally cleaning their tanks, there is still a way to solve the problem. This malpractice is prohibited under the Marpol 73/78 convention.
Authorities claimed it was very difficult to penalise these violators as they mostly do the washing on the week-ends and
at night.
“What can be done,” he said, “is that governments invest in aircraft that can man and monitor the seas in at random times. Once a vessel is spotted, the people who monitor get the name of the ship and thereafter inform people from onshore. The coast guards will then get samples of the spills on the seas. The oil found will the be compared to that of the reported ship. If it matches, then this ship may then be brought to court.
“This could be a gulf-wide concerted effort to completely eradicate the problem,” he further suggested.
The feasibility
Asked if this measure would be feasible, Bu-Amim said:
“It may be the case. But it all starts with the people to care first and not just from the laws that frighten people. Men simply create more and more ways to get around these laws.
The most important thing is for people to seriously think about what they are doing. It all goes back to educating people. People should know that it is from the seas that we get our drinking water. If that is so, then we have to protect it.”
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