Letter: Crude Oil Spill Reaches Carli Bay
Dear Editor,
On the night of Saturday the 22nd of August, several seine fishing vessels left from Carli Bay as they normally do to fish with their nets between 1 and 2 miles offshore. On Sunday morning the vessels returned ashore and both nets and vessels were covered in oil. This means that either the same oil that was in Cedros is now contaminating the Gulf of Paria or that this may be a different oil spill. Either way, this spells another Gulf of Paria disaster.
Heritage Petroleum Company Limited has dispatched cleanup crews even though they indicated that they are not responsible for the oil spill. The Heritage cleanup crews were land based and have only cleaned up the clumps of oil that had washed ashore in Cedros, but there are undetermined volumes of oil circulating in our maritime waters. Heritage has said that they have not confirmed the source of this newest spill.
Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) once again call on the Minister of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI), the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) to respond and to fingerprint the oil in Carli Bay to identify the owner of the oil and to determine if this is the same oil that we reported in Cedros on the 21st of August 2020. If it is, then we need to locate the source as well as put out warnings for fishermen because tens of thousands of dollars of losses would occur when oil contaminates their fishing nets and other equipment. It is not something that can be cleaned so once the net becomes contaminated it can no longer be used.
FFOS are calling on the Honorable Government to act responsibly and come to our rescue to coordinate this urgent action. This is a public warning for all Gulf of Paria fishermen, seafarers and marinas.
Will those responsible be held accountable? Who will compensate our fishermen who have suffered losses because of this spill?
Unless we protect our vulnerable communities from environmental crimes by the extractive industries, we will be sending an unpatriotic message to all of our people.
Sincerely,
Gary Aboud
Corporate Secretary, Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS)
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