The oil spill from the sunken oil tanker Solar 1 off Guimaras island in the Philippines is being touted as a disaster on the scale of the Exxon Valdez catastrophe.
Though the amount of oil aboard Solar 1 is a fraction of what the Valdez disgorged when it foundered off Alaska, the fact remains that the Valdez spilled in a relatively remote area. A number of people depend on the Guimaras region for their livelihood and with the Solar 1 having leaked one-tenth of the contained oil so far, experts say a ticking time-bomb is on the ocean floor.
Nestor Yungue, a marine biologist said that the speed with which the oil reached the Guimaras coast is a concern since it does not allow for the chemical disintegration of the pollutants. The Valdez crude took time to hit the Alaskan coast contaminating 1,300 miles of coastline, killing a quarter-million sea birds, 1000's of otters and hundreds of seals.
It will be 3 to 6 months before we are able to see the damage in this instance.
Environmental economist Rodelio Subade said damage from the Solar 1 would not be limited to 'tradable goods' like fish stocks but could have an impact on generations of fishermen.
The Taclong national marine reserve took a direct hit when the tanker sank. Mangroves expert, Resurreccion Sadaba, said that coral reefs and marine organisms including fish and mollusks have started dying. He also said seedlings and saplings among 90 hectares of mangrove thickets, vital shelters for fish fry, were already “showing signs of withering”.
Mangroves are the basis of the marine food chain and with their removal the whole system will collapse.
The Taclong reserve is also a vital nursery for 2 of the country's richest fishing grounds, the Sulu Sea and the Visayan Sea. If the spill is not contained within the narrow straits on either side of Guimaras, these would be hard hit.
The tourism industry is already suffering with mass cancellations for both this year and the next.
The Coast Guard is spraying dispersants to contain the slick, pushed by currents and monsoon towards the Visayan Sea. When the winds shift in October, it will be open seas between the tanker wreck and the Sulu Sea which is the site of one of the world's most biologically diverse coral formations.
A Japanese salvage ship is on its way to try to refloat the tanker or siphon off the remaining oil.
All of the Sunshine Maritime Development's remaining tankers have been grounded since the Solar 1 sank. Company president, Clemente Cancio, defended the qualifications of Norberto Aguro, the tanker's captain saying he was an expert in manning chemical tankers which are more difficult to handle than oil tankers. But he added that Aguro might have been wrong in setting sail in those weather conditions. The tanker had passed inspection before it sail.
The Board of Marine Enquiry questioned why there were excess of 4 men on a tanker with a capacity of 16 and noted that the tanker was only carrying 19 life vests.
Cancio said that Petron Corp., the company which had chartered Solar 1 required at least 2 surveyors on board and the crewman present at the enquiry affirmed that the 2 seamen who are missing had been wearing life jackets before the tanker capsized.
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