Oil spill on a Sundarbans river triggers
environment concerns
Alip Ghatak, Bagerhat Correspondent,
The sinking of an oil-tanker in a river on the Sundarbans has made
the forest officials and environment experts deeply worried.RELATED STORIES· Oil-tanker sinks in river
atSundarbans2014-12-09
They say 350,000 litres of furnace oil spilled in the river will cause serious
ecological disaster in the biggest mangrove forest in the world.
Forest officials say oil from the tanker which sank early on Tuesday after
being hit by another vessel spread around 20 kilometres of Shela River until
the afternoon.
The situation was getting worse as the local government offices including the
forest department and Mongla Port Authority had no tools to control or clean up
the oil spill.
Sundarbans east region Divisional Forest Department official Amir Hussain
Chowdhury told "The Mrigmari-Nandabala-Andharmanik dolphin sanctuary is
facing serious threat due to the oil spill. The sanctuary may have to be
moved."
The Sundarbans is the biggest roaming ground for this kind of dolphins, known
as Irabati Dolphins or locally as Sushuk. The area adjacent to the Shela River
has been declared sanctuary for the dolphins by the government.
Biodiversity and ecology researcher Pavel Partha told : "The oil will
reduce the amount of oxygen in the water. This will create a crisis for all the
aquatic animals including the dolphins."
He was concerned that the plants and aquatic resources of the mangrove forest
would be fatally harmed.
His concerns were also echoed by Khulna University's environmental science
department Prof Dilip Kumar Dutta.
"This huge amount of oil on the water would heavily affect the coastal
biodiversity for a long time," he said.He said there was a slim chance
that high and low tide would clean up the oil from that part of the river fast
because water flow in the downstream was not strong.
Sundarbans' Chandpai range Assistant Forest Conservator Abul Kalam Azad from
the scene on Tuesday afternoon told that the head of the tanker had
submerged, but the tail was still up.
'OT Southern Star 7' was on its way to a power plant in Gopalganj from the
Khulna Padma Oil Depot carrying 357,664 litres of furnace oil.
After starting the journey on Monday afternoon, the ship anchored on the Shela
River at the forest's Chandpai Range for the night.
It was hit from behind by empty cargo ship 'Total' around 5am Tuesday amid
dense fog, Mongla Coast Guard's Contingent Commander (West Zone) Captain Mehedi
Masud said earlier.It is not confirmed how much oil has spilled into the river
until now.
But after a tour of the 20-kilometre area inside the forest, Assistant Forest
Conservator Abul Kalam Azad said he thought all of the 357,664 litres of
furnace oil from the tanker had spilled.
He said oil had spread on the other small rivers and canals inside that region.
In the afternoon, layers of oil could been seen on the water in Joymoni,
Beltola, Nandabala, Andharmanik and Mrigmari. Azad
said the oil was flowing very close to the dolphin sanctuary and it would
pollute the water of the sanctuary before high tide at night. Mongla Port Authority Chairman
Commodore Habibur Rahman Khan suggests Bangladesh Navy's ship BNS Shaheed Ruhul
Amin to control the situation. He
said this ship had chemicals that could be used to turn the oil layer into a
concentraed, heavy mass. "We can try to reduce the extent of losses by
taking this option.” The
Ghashiakhali channel, used as India-Bangladesh water protocol route and
maritime communication route for the country's southern region, was closed
nearly three years ago after Mongla's Nala River and Rampal's Kumar River
filled up. Since then BIWTA has
been using Shela River inside the Sundarbans as an alternate route.
Environmentalists had many times over the years demanded closure of this
waterway as it had posed a great risk of an ecological disaster. On Sept 30, a cargo vessel carrying
raw materials for a cement factory capsized at Mongla Port's Pashur Channel. Only 18 days earlier, another vessel
carrying similar materials went down at Harhbarhia in the same channel. Both ships are yet to be
salvaged. No-one at fault?
As environmentalists question transportation of fuel oil through Sundarbans,
forestry officials say their moratorium in a bid to check traffic on river
routes inside the mangrove forest has been defied.
The government took steps to preserve the environment and ecology after the
UNESCO declared Sundarbans a heritage site in 1997.
The Forestry Division in 2011 ordered the BIWTA to stop using Sundarbans
waterways.
However, it is unclear why or how the oil-tanker was using the route despite
the embargo.
Forest officer Amir Hussain Chowdhury said, “The BIWTA has kept using the river
routes inside the mangrove forest ignoring our orders.”
Speaking to , Wild Life Trust Bangladesh Chief Executive Prof Anowarul Islam
said oil-tankers operating through the Sundarbans was “unacceptable”.
He called for finding an alternative route and asked the government to take a
tough stance.
“The forest department has been objecting repeatedly [about using this route].
“It will be impossible to save the Sundarbans if the shipping ministry says the
river routes are its jurisdiction and asks the forestry division to look after
the forest,” he added.