THANK GOD, THERE IS NO LOSS OF HUMAN LIFE!
MAURITIUS, COLONIAL FRENCH-ENGLISH PARADISE OF THE INDIAN OCEAN! GOVERNMENT LIES AND INACTION!
INDIA & FRENCH MILITARY COVER-UP!!!
THE CREOLES FORGOT TO CONTAC THE ORGANISATION OF AFRICAN UNITY!
ENQUÊTE EXCLUSIVE : Wakashio - Marée noire : Qui est le responsable de ce désastre ?
Mauritius oil spill ship could break spilling another 4,000 tonnes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICznJazR_D0
Mauritius conservationists race to save rare species from oil spill
Why the Mauritius oil spill is so serious
The amount of oil spilled from the Japanese-owned ship nearby the lagoons and coastal areas of south-east Mauritius is relatively low compared to the big oil spills the world has seen in the past, but the damage it will do is going to be huge and long-lasting, experts say.
Unlike most previous offshore spills, this has taken place near two environmentally protected marine ecosystems and the Blue Bay Marine Park reserve, which is a wetland of international importance.
So, it's the location rather than the size of the spill which is causing greatest concern about its potentially serious environmental impact.
The stunning turquoise waters of the blue lagoon outside the coastal village of Mahébourg in Mauritius, the backdrop for numerous Bollywood movies, are now stained black and brown.
The ship, MV Wakashio, ran aground at Pointe d'Esny in late July, and oil began leaking from it last Thursday. Satellite images show the oil spill stretched out between the mainland at Pointe D'Esny and the island of Ile-aux-Aigrettes.
It is thought that more than 1,000 tonnes of fuel have leaked out of the ship and into the lagoon. A huge clean-up operation has been launched from the shore with many local people volunteering to help.
On 7 August, nearly two weeks after the shipwreck, the Mauritian government declared the incident a national emergency.
Biodiversity hotspot
Mauritius is a biodiversity hotspot with a high concentration of plants and animals unique to the region.
"The wind and the water currents are not helping, they are taking the oil towards the areas that have vital marine ecosystems," Sunil Mokshananda, a former Greenpeace strategist, who is on an island near the oil-spill site, told the BBC.
The Mauritian marine environment is home to 1,700 species including around 800 types of fish, 17 kinds of marine mammals and two species of turtles, according to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Coral reefs, seagrasses and mangroves make Mauritian waters extraordinarily rich in biodiversity.
"There are very few such marine areas with such rich biodiversity left on the planet. An oil spill like this will impact almost everything there," said Dr Corina Ciocan, a senior lecturer in marine biology at the UK's University of Brighton.
"It is not just about the light oil slick you see on the surface of the water caused by the spill.
"There will also be soluble compounds from the oil that will dissolve in the water, a mousse-like layer underneath the surface of the water, and then very heavy residues on the bed - so the entire marine ecosystem will be affected."
The ship, MV Wakashio, is believed to have been carrying around 4,000 tonnes of fuel, of which nearly 1,200 tonnes have already spilled, according to the operator Mitsui OSK Lines.
Despite bad weather, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said all the oil has now been removed from the ship's fuel reservoirs, although a small amount remains on board elsewhere. There had been fears that the ship could break up, spilling even more oil into the sea.
Fuel has been transferred to shore by helicopter and to another ship owned by the same Japanese firm, Nagashiki Shipping.
Why the ship came so close to the lagoon is not clear and is being investigated by police.
At a news conference, Akihiko Ono, executive vice-president of Mitsui OSK Lines "profusely" apologised for the spill and for "the great trouble we have caused".
Coral-bleaching
One of the major concerns has been for coral reefs in the lagoon - which are sometimes called the rainforests of the sea - because of the diversity of life found in them.
Around 25% of fish in the ocean depend on healthy coral reefs, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the US.
They protect coastlines from storms and erosion. Coral reefs and the marine ecosystems are the major pillars of Mauritian tourism which is a big part of the country's economy.
"The toxic hydrocarbons released from spilled oil will bleach the coral reefs and they will eventually die," said Professor Richard Steiner, an international oil spill adviser and a marine biologist in Alaska, US.
Last year Professor Steiner helped the government of the Solomon Islands when a ship spilled oil on the coral reef off its coast:
"Although the oil spill wasn't large - just a few hundred tonnes of oil - the damage to the coral reefs there have been massive."
Impact of past oil spills
Although previous oil spills around the world have not been in as environmentally sensitive areas, they have still significantly affected marine animals and plants.
In 2010, the Deep Water Horizon incident off the Gulf of Mexico saw nearly 400,000 tonnes of oil spill, resulting in the death of thousands of species ranging from plankton to dolphins.
There were also other longer-term impacts on marine life including impaired reproduction, reduced growth, lesions and disease.
"Researchers found skin lesions on red snapper from the northern Gulf in the months after the spill, but the lesions became less frequent and severe by 2012," wrote Dr Steven Murawski, marine ecologist at the University of South Florida, and Sherry Gilbert, assistant director of the university's C-IMAGE Consortium in the journal The Conversation.
"There is other evidence of ongoing and increasing exposures to hydrocarbons over time in economically and environmentally important species like golden tilefish, grouper and hake."
In 1978, a large crude oil carrier ran aground off the coast of Brittany, France, which leaked nearly 70 million gallons of oil into the sea.
Around 200 miles of the French coast were polluted by the oil slick, and it killed millions of invertebrates, such as molluscs and crustaceans. The spill also killed an estimated 20,000 birds, and contaminated oyster beds in the region.
Experts say that despite best efforts, generally less than 10% of oil spilled in incidents like these is successfully cleaned up.
France has sent a military aircraft with pollution control equipment from its nearby island of Réunion to help with the Mauritian spill, while Japan has sent a six-member team to assist the French efforts. The Mauritius coast guard and several police units are also at the site in the south-east of the island.
"The Mauritian government should do the environmental impact assessment as soon as they can," said Professor Steiner.
"The impact is likely to remain for years."
Japanese ship involved in Mauritius oil spill breaks apart
(Reuters) - A Japanese bulk carrier that ran aground on a reef in Mauritius last month threatening a marine ecological disaster around the Indian Ocean island has broken apart, authorities said on Saturday.
The condition of the MV Wakashio was worsening early on Saturday and it split by the afternoon, the Mauritius National Crisis Committee said.
“At around 4.30pm, a major detachment of the vessel’s forward section was observed,” it said in a statement. “On the basis of the experts’ advice, the towing plan is being implemented.”
The vessel struck a coral reef on July 25, spilling about 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil and endangering corals, fish and other marine life in what some scientists have called the country’s worst ecological disaster.
On Friday, some residual oil from the ship leaked into the ocean, Mauritius Marine Conservation Society President Jacqueline Sauzier told Reuters on Saturday morning.
Authorities deployed booms on Saturday to help with oil absorption around the vessel.
The Crisis Committee said special attention was being given to sensitive sites such as the Blue Bay Marine Park, Ile aux Aigrettes and the Pointe D’Esny National Ramsar Site.
The weather is expected to deteriorate over the next few days with waves of up to 4.5 metres (15 feet), authorities said.
Most of the oil from the vessels have been pumped out, the Mauritian government said on Thursday, but there was still 166 tonnes of fuel oil inside and authorities were working to remove it.
Japanese Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Saturday Tokyo planned to send a team of officials from the ministry and other specialists to assess the damage. The MV Wakashio is owned by Japan’s Nagashiki Shipping and chartered by Mitsui OSK Lines (9104.T).
Scientists say the full impact of the spill is still unfolding, but the damage could affect Mauritius and its tourism-dependent economy for decades.
Removing the ship is likely to take months. Former colonial power France has said it will assist with the cleanup.
(Graphic: Mauritius oil spill - here)
Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo and Omar Mohammed; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, William Mallard and Frances Kerry
Mauritius oil spill: Wrecked MV Wakashio breaks up
A Japanese bulk carrier that has leaked hundreds of tonnes of fuel oil off the Mauritius coast has broken apart, authorities in the island nation say.
The MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef on 25 July with 4,000 tonnes of the fuel, causing an ecological emergency.
Most of the fuel had already been pumped out, officials said, but on Saturday the ship's condition worsened.
Mauritius is home to world-renowned coral reefs, and popular with tourists.
The MV Wakashio ran aground at Pointe d'Esny, a known sanctuary for rare wildlife. The area also contains wetlands designated as a site of international importance by the Ramsar convention on wetlands.
"At around 4.30pm [12:30 GMT], a major detachment of the vessel's forward section was observed," the Mauritius National Crisis Committee said in a statement on Saturday.
About 90 tonnes of the fuel were believed to be still on board when the vessel split.
The committee said booms had been reinforced near the vessel to absorb any more oil that leaked out. Coast guard vessels have been positioned in the area.
Mauritius has said it will seek compensation for the leak from "the owner and the insurer". Japanese firm Nagashiki Shipping has pledged to respond to requests for compensation.
Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said in recent days that more than 3,000 of the 4,000 tonnes of oil from the ship's fuel reservoirs had been pumped out.
The removed fuel has been transferred to shore by helicopter and to another ship owned by the same Japanese firm.
How bad is the spillage?
One of the best assessments of the spill has come via Earth observation assets.
The US analytics company Ursa Space Systems looked at the situation using radar data from the Finnish Iceye satellites, which are especially effective at picking out oil on water. It found a 27 sq km spill by 11 August.
BBC World Service environment correspondent Navid Singh Khadka says a spill three times the size of this was averted. Nevertheless a uniquely biodiversity-rich marine ecosystem has been polluted with nearly 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil.
Last week, Mr Jugnauth declared a state of emergency and appealed for international help.
Since then, volunteers have also been collecting straw from fields and filling sacks to make barriers against the oil.
Others have made their own tubes with tights and hair to add to the effort, and some have been cleaning up the island's beaches.
Their actions went against an order from the government asking people to leave the clean-up to local authorities.
Greenpeace Africa has warned that "thousands" of animal species were "at risk of drowning in a sea of pollution, with dire consequences for Mauritius's economy, food security and health".
An oceanographer and environmental engineer in Mauritius, Vassen Kauppaymuthoo, told the BBC that local residents were now "breathing heavy vapours of oil", and there was a "mixture of sadness and anger" over the spill.
Police in Mauritius say they have been granted a search warrant, allowing them to board the vessel to take away items of interest such as the ship's log book in order to help with an investigation. The ship's captain will assist officers with their search.
