Ecological disaster in the Arabian Sea

THE Clifton beach, a favourite recreational spot along the Arabian Sea coastline in Pakistan's largest city Karachi, wore a deserted look back in late 2003 when thousands of tons of crude oil from the grounded ship MT Tasman Spirit cover the sea and the sand.

The stench and the noxious vapours, which caused headache and nausea, have forced many residents of the seaside apartments and bungalows to move to safer localities. The dead fish and turtles that littered the beach have been removed on war footing by paramilitary forces and municipal workers but the place is still silent like a graveyard. No children play here, no people stroll and jog as they did prior to the disastrous oil spill. Karachi port authorities have threatened to fine the owners of the vessel a mere 10 million rupees (US$173,000).

Environmentalists warned that the crude oil contains toxic compounds that are harmful to all living beings and environment. Its vapours cause irritation of the eyes, burning of the skin and inflammation of the respiratory tract. It also harms the vital organs and body systems. The elderly and the children are the most affected.

The oil film on the water surface limits entry of sunlight, hampering photosynthesis in sea vegetation. It also acts as a barrier between atmospheric oxygen and the life underwater, causing marine life to suffocate and die. The chemicals in the oil react with the water, changing its natural composition and making it harmful to life — first affecting the primary marine life forms and then gradually the secondary and higher marine life forms. The entire food chain is affected. Contaminated microscopic organisms are consumed by small marine life forms like the krill which, in turn, are eaten by small fish on which the big fish dine. At the top of the food chain are humans who take the fish and the poultry, which is fed the feed containing dried, contaminated fish waste.

Director of the IUCN’s Coastal Ecosystem Tahir Qureshi said 16 kilometers of the Arabian Sea coast has already been polluted. “This is an ecological, environmental and economic disaster,” he said. Unfortunately, “The radius of oil-affected area in the sea is widening and may hit the western coast as well,” he added.

He further said, “Coastal areas west of Karachi, which are the seasonal breeding grounds of the rare Green and Olive Ridley turtles, are in danger of being affected by the dark, oily sludge.”

He also pointed out that a few years back, two oil spills near the Port Qasim had badly affected mangrove forests in a vast area. The oil film on the aerial root system of the mangroves eventually kills the trees, he said.

Mangroves, as we all know, are the breeding grounds of commercially important species like prawns, shrimps and crabs. As a consequence to the oil spill, mangrove trees will ultimately wither and die, and the production of these sea food species will dwindle.

Deputy Director-General of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Dr Ejaz Ahmad also spoke to Dawn in this regard. He said that since the breeding season of several marine life species had just ended, and that of some others was still in process, the young ones of marine species, and the newly laid eggs, will definitely be harmed by the oil spill.

Dr Ahmad said the waterfowl would also be affected by the oil spill because they have to dive through, or dip in, the oily water surface to catch fish. Doing this would put a coating of oil on their wings and feathers, rendering them unable to fly. The oil would also wash off their waterproof coating, leaving them vulnerable to hypothermia, one of the main causes of their death.

Dr Ahmad informed that oil passes through egg shell, killing the embryo. It damaged the eyes of aquatic mammals and turtles, and also destroyed the immune system as well as vital organs of the animals.

Official inaction

Although Pakistani officials are well known for their inaction and complacency at the times of disasters, this time they outdid themselves. They tried their best to hide the utter incompetence with which they dealt with the crisis but the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are now fitting in one by one to reveal the total picture. Now they will have to answer some tough questions. For instance:

1. Why did the state-run Pakistan National Shipping Corporation hire a rickety old tub like MT Tasman Spirit, which was banned by the United States and the European Union from entering their waters?

2. Why didn’t the Karachi Port Trust authorities keep the harbour channel properly dredged to keep it open?

3. Why did the authorities linger on for ten days before they came up with an action plan?

4. What was the purpose of underplaying the disaster?

5. Why did the KPT underestimate the harm done, announcing that they would ask the owners for a mere US$173,100 towards damages.

6. Why was a single small tug was put to the task of refloating the ship when four more powerful ones were available.

7. It is a known fact that at the time the ship entered the channel, and struck the unmarked shallow patch, it was in the control of a licensed Pakistani pilot, not of the Greek skipper.

It is strange how the authorities, including the Sindh Environmental Protection Authority, kept harping that no harm was done to the ecology. They need to be reminded that when the US oil tanker Exxon Valdez went down in March 24, 1989, some 38,800 metric tonnes of oil was spilled, and about 2.1 billion dollars were spent to clean up the spill. Though no life was lost in the incident, the human and natural losses — to fisheries, livelihoods, tourism and wildlife — were immense. The most important loss was those tourists who will never visit the place because even after 14 years the oil still lingers.