Oil sludge taints mangroves in Oriental Mindoro
FLUSHING OUT OPERATION | Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel, in this photo posted on April 11, use low-pressure pumps to flush out remaining oil sludge in mangrove areas in the coastal village of Tinogboc, Semirara Island in Caluya, Antique, one of the areas affected when tanker MT Princess Empress sank off Oriental Mindoro on Feb. 28 while carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel. (Photo from the Facebook page of the Philippine Coast Guard) STORY: Oil sludge taints mangroves in Oriental Mindoro
Traces of oil sludge were found in some mangroves at a village in Pola town, Oriental Mindoro province, that is still reeling from the impact of the oil spill from the sunken MT Princess Empress, an environmental study showed on Monday.
The contamination has forced a coalition of scientists and environmental advocates to sound the alarm as they warned that it could lead to the death of the local mangrove ecosystem if the spread would not be prevented.
“The presence of oil in mangrove leaves could hinder primary production, especially on juvenile mangroves that only have few leaves, which could affect their survival, “ said the coalition composed of Brigada Kalikasan, Advocates for Science and Technology for the People, Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) Philippines, Serve the People Corps-Southern Tagalog (STPC), and local organization Angat Kabataan Mindoreño.
Dead trees
The finding was based on a research done by the coalition on the effect of the oil spill in two coastal villages in Pola and four in Calapan City from April 1 to April 3. Pola is one of the first towns to be directly hit by the oil spill caused by MT Princess Empress, which sank off Oriental Mindoro on Feb. 28 while carrying 800,000 liters of industrial oil.
It said oil found on the root structures of trees could also prevent mangroves from breathing.
While the extent of the oil spill on mangroves in Calapan City was “minimal,” the group found several dead juvenile mangrove trees at Barangay Tagumpay in Pola, but noted that “the cause of mortality is not certain.”
“Traces of oil were also observed around these mangroves. Oil traces have also been observed to seep into the sand,” they said.
Mangrove forests, also known as the “rainforests of the sea,” are an important part of the marine ecosystem, as the roots of the trees provide shelter for marine life while their fallen leaves become feed for fish and other marine animals.
Negative impact
According to the environmentalist group Greenpeace, the oil spill has already affected 5,185 hectares of corals, sea grass and mangroves in Oriental Mindoro, where 10 towns had been declared in a state of calamity due to the oil spill, and in Western Visayas, mainly on Caluya Islands in Antique province.
Greenpeace, in a post on its Facebook page on April 5, branded the oil spill as a “growing ecological catastrophe.”
“It is impacting some of the country’s most important and biodiverse marine protected areas and fisheries areas, including the Verde Island Passage (VIP),” the group said. VIP is a body of water between Batangas and Mindoro Island where the world’s most critical marine biodiversity center is found. The strait is some 100 kilometers from Pola town, where the tanker was last located after it sank on Feb. 28.
