Chennai: Marine ecology management skills absent

Chennai: Marine biologists and experts in marine safety demand immediate measures from the state authorities and Chennai Coast Guard. Pointing out that the Ennore port authorities have failed to gauge the intensity of oil spillage, they allege that by and large, authorities have failed to curtail the Ennore oil spillage, thus leading to spread of oil sludge all along the coast of Chennai.

"This had to be treated as a man-made disaster and a dedicated long-time project is required to monitor its impact," said eco consultant S. Thirugnanam of Biodiversity Conservation Foundation. Thirugnanam, who had served as a sea safety consultant for the National Drilling Company of Abu Dhabi, said that the authorities in Chennai have lost the golden hour period in this case. In case of developed countries oil spillage is a serious issue and the first response system is to prevent the oil spillage by setting up cofferdam arrangement, where tubes are floated with absorbing skimmers to collect the oil within the trapped sea water. In case of shoreline contamination absorbents should be used to extract the spilled oil and its time for the state government to train the fire safety department on sea safety measures, he opined.

"Chennai oil spill is an ecological disaster that will have repercussions for the next few years. The intensity of the spread from north of Chennai - Marina - Neelangarai beach will adversely affect the life cycle of marine animals that are dependent on coastal ecosystem during juvenile and subadult stages", said marine mammal consultant R. P. Kumarran. Intertidal areas are much prone to the impact of the spill. Our immediate task should be to assess the acute impact and to compare with available baseline data in this area followed by a long-term study to measure the environmental as well as biological residue levels. On the management side, incidents like this should help us to chart out disaster mitigation plans based on scientific data, he said.

He also urged authorities to refrain from using detergents to break down the oil spill, as this common practice will have long-term effect on marine organisms. Understanding the intensity of this spill requires revisiting the sites and surrounding areas for assessing stress-inducing biomarkers in different animal.
Meanwhile, union shipping ministry, Ennore Port and Tiruvallur district administration through press statements exuded confidence that coastal ecosystem will improve as the oil sludge will be removed along the Chennai coast in a couple of days.

Coast Guard clears 15 tonnes of oil

Estimating the spill to be more than 20 tonnes from MT Kanchipuram, Indian Coast Guard officials has cleared 15 tonnes of oil and sludge from the Ramakrishna Nagar Kuppam village, which suffered maximum brunt.

“It is estimated that more than 20 tonnes of oil has been spilled from MT Dawn Kanchipuram as against the initial report of 2-3 tonnes by the ship,” said Coast Guard officials on Tuesday.

The ship deployed with spill spray arms and Oil Spill dispersant (OSD) has dispersed about 2 tonnes of the spill to neutralize the slick at sea, said the press release.

Coast Guard ship Abheek was immediately pressed into Pollution Response operation with 02 tonnes of OSD initially on Saturday. Various resource agencies from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, State Fire Service, Kamrajar and Chennai Port, CSG including more than 200 volunteers from various NGOs are taking part in the operation.

The Coast Guard Regional Commander Inspector General Rajan Bargotra, TM carried out aerial reccee to assess the gravity of oil slick and impact on shoreline.