COMMUNITY IN ACTION Disaster responders and volunteers in Calapan City place a 500-meter-long improvised spill boom made of empty bottles, red plastic bags and rice straws in this photo taken on Friday to contain the patches of oil slick from the sunken MT Princess Empress that reached Barangay Navotas on Thursday. (PHOTO BY MADONNA T. VIROLA)
CITY OF CALAPAN – The University of the Philippines – Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI), in its latest bulletin on Saturday night (March 18), said that more oil spill is expected to reach this city’s shores in three days.
“Oil spill trajectories for March 16 to 22 show northward shift with Calapan possibly receiving most of the oil from March 20 to 22,” said the bulletin.
The UP-MSI said the latest satellite image on March 15 “shows that the oil is still leaking out of the sunken vessel (MT Princess Empress).”
“Westward currents along the coast of northern Mindoro towards the Verde Island Passage are forecasted to be more pronounced for this period. The ‘Amihan’ (north east monsoon) winds, which contained most of the oil to the coasts of Naujan and Pola in the previous weeks, are now more variable, allowing the oil to spread northwards,” the agency said.
The UP-MSI said stopping the seepage of oil from the tanker that sank Feb. 28 should be a priority “before the end of the amihan season, otherwise more critical biodiversity areas along the Verde Island Passage may be affected.”
“We need continuous monitoring along the coasts for the presence of oil to inform the models. The public is encouraged to contribute geotagged images using a GPS camera app (such as https://bit.ly/3ZVRg0y) so that coordinates can be used as starting locations for the oil in new model forecasts,” the bulletin said.
Meanwhile, the city government of Calapan, residents and volunteers from different groups and sectors continue to make and donate improvised oil spill booms that are placed around the waters of the city to protect its marine resources and coastal communities.