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  Yahoo News 17 Aug 06
Philippines warns oil spill could get worse

Yahoo News 17 Aug 06
Stench of fuel hangs over Philippine marine park
By Dolly Aglay

WWF 17 Aug 06
Large oil spill in the Philippines threatens marine ecosystem

Yahoo News 16 Aug 06
Philippines seeks urgent help to battle oil spill

PlanetArk 15 Aug 06
Manila Appeals for Help Over Major Oil Spill

LAPAZ, Philippines - The Philippines said on Tuesday it would ask Japan and Indonesia to help dam a huge oil spill that has polluted fishing grounds, dive spots and a national marine reserve around the central island of Guimaras.

The Philippine Coast Guard has also asked local governments to use wood, bamboo, oil drums and tyres to try to contain the biggest oil slick to afflict the Southeast Asian country, famed for its white beaches and clear, turquoise waters.

"Sad to note that the large oil spill is now wreaking havoc to the fishing grounds, beautiful diving spots, marine sanctuaries and other sensitive coastal areas in Guimaras island," the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Vice-Admiral Arthur Gosingan, the head of the Coast Guard, told Reuters that the bunker oil, covering a stretch of about 19.5 nautical miles, could take up to three years to clean.

Clumps of the greasy liquid, smelling of newly laid asphalt, stained the beach in the fishing village of Lapaz. Residents placed nets along the shore to obstruct the slick but large waves washed them away.

The Taklong island national marine reserve, located on the southern tip of Guimaras island, was one of the areas hit after a tanker, chartered by the Philippines' largest refiner Petron, sank on Friday with 2 million litres of bunker oil.

The marine reserve is a feeding and breeding ground for fish and other species. Scientists recorded 29 genera of hard coral in the area, 144 species of fish, 7 species of seagrasses and 3 species of mangroves.

Gosingan said the Coast Guard would ask their counterparts in Indonesia and Japan for technical help on stopping the spread of the oil. The Philippines would also seek help to salvage the tanker, Solar 1, which sank while en route to a power plant on the southern island of Mindanao. Eighteen crew were rescued and 2 remain missing.

Environmental group Greenpeace said the Philippines must hold Petron and its partners accountable for the damage to coastal and marine ecosystems. "The vessel that sank in Guimaras Strait in the Philippines is an ecological time bomb that may cause long-term and possibly permanent damage to the environment and livelihoods of people," the group said in a statement.

Yahoo News 16 Aug 06
Philippines seeks urgent help to battle oil spill

NUEVA VALENCIA, Philippines (AFP) - The Philippines has appealed for urgent help to combat the country's worst-ever oil spill, which has polluted a major marine reserve and threatened the livelihoods of thousands of fishermen.

Coastguard officials said Wednesday they were struggling to cope with the scale of the environmental disaster caused by the sinking of the tanker Solar I last week with over 520,000 gallons of industrial fuel on board.

The ship went down on Friday in rough seas in the Panay Gulf between the central islands of Panay and Guimaras. Eighteen of the crew were rescued but two remain missing, the coastguard said.

"We don't have the capability right now to salvage sunken vessels this deep. That's why we're seeking international support," said coastguard spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Joseph Coyme.

The coastline of Nueva Valencia, a quiet fishing town on the southwestern coast of Guimaras, has borne the brunt of the disaster with black slime coating the coastline.

Provincial governor Joaquin Carlos Nava told reporters: "These people cannot clean up this mess by themselves. They need international support." Officials said the government had asked for equipment and specialist teams from Japan as well as a team from Indonesia to help manage the slick, which is around 460 kilometres (280 miles) south of Manila.

Coyme said the challenge was to contain the 19.5 nautical-mile-long slick off the southern coast of Guimaras and to plug the leaking tanker, which is resting on the seabed in around 3,000 feet (900 metres) of water.

Local crews have attempted to put booms around the spill to keep it from spreading but their work has been severely hampered by rough seas. The coastguard also appealed for help in trying to salvage or refloat the ship.

The slick has hit more than 200 kilometres of coastline, damaging mangrove swamps, seaweed plantations and coral reefs containing popular dive sites, governor Nava said.

The international environmental group Greenpeace called the sunken vessel an "ecological time bomb that may cause long-term and possible permanent damage to the environment and livelihoods of people."

It urged Manila in a statement to hold the tanker owners and its charterers "accountable for damages to marine and coastal ecosystems and for their rehabilitation."

Coyme estimated the spill, described by the coastguard as the worst in the history of the Southeast Asian country, would take more than a year to clean up. The slick could eventually threaten the west coast of the island of Negros as well as the eastern flank of Panay island.

Of particular concern for conservationists is damage to the Taclong island national marine reserve off the south of Guimaras. The network of three species of mangroves, reefs of nine types of hard coral and beds of seven types of seagrass serves as a "feeding, breeding and nursery ground" for 144 fish species, the coastguard said. It said the spill was "wreaking havoc" on fishing grounds and other coastal areas.

However Coyme said the slick was unlikely to reach the resort island of Boracay off Panay's northern coast. The island is the Philippines's top tourist attraction and is famed for its white sand beaches.

Governor Nava said that in his province alone up to 10,000 fishermen and their families were being affected by the disaster. "It is not only the coastline and fishing industries that are affected but also the tourism industry," he said. "We are looking at the possible evacuation and support for our displaced fisherfolk. We don't know how long this (clean-up) will take," he told ABS-CBN television.

WWF 17 Aug 06
Large oil spill in the Philippines threatens marine ecosystem

Manila, the Philippines: An oil tanker that sank in the Philippines last week is leaking tons of fuel, affecting the local marine and coastal ecosystems. The M/V Solar I, chartered by Petron, the Philippines--largest oil refiner, was carrying 2.4 million litres of oil to the southern island of Mindanao when it went down in unusually rough waters off Guimaras Island, several hundred kilometres southeast of the capital, Manila.

To date, 200,000 litres of oil have leaked from the tanker, contaminating a 24km2 area. The oil slick has already reached the coastal towns of Nueva Valencia and Jordan on Guimaras Island, as well as Villadolid, Pulupandan and Bago on Negros Island.

The spill is heading up through the Guimaras Strait. The Guimaras Strait is one of the most productive fishing grounds in the country, as well as a popular tourist destination. It is home to pristine white sand beaches, several marine sanctuaries and unspoiled coral reefs and mangrove forests.

The Philippines coast guard is calling this the worst oil spill in the country's history.

According to officials, 1,000ha of mangrove forests have been affected, including parts of the Taclong Island Sanctuary, a feeding and breeding ground for fish and other species.

"Oil spills are most destructive when they reach the shoreline," said Abbie Ramos of WWF-Philippines. "Critical habitats such as coral reefs and mangrove forests are being affected and will take years to repair." Threatened species such as the dugong, green and hawksbill turtles, and several cetacean species can also be found along the Strait.

"The area is tremendously rich in marine life," added Dr Jose Ingles, WWF-Philippines coordinator for the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion. "A spill of this proportion is simply catastrophic."

The coast guard has sent oil spill response teams from Manila and Batangas and doing all they can to clean up the leak.

WWF hopes a national oil spill contingency plan that includes all stakeholders--coastguard, oil industry, local fishermen and coastal communities--will help pool resources in an effort to form rapid response teams to deal with any future oil spills throughout the country.

In addition, as extreme weather events may very well be part of our future, WWF is seeking new standards for transport of hazardous cargo in rough weather, and current shipping routes should be reviewed and new options considered in order to avoid particularly sensitive marine areas.

Yahoo News 17 Aug 06
Stench of fuel hangs over Philippine marine park
By Dolly Aglay

TAKLONG ISLAND, Philippines (Reuters) - The waters of the Taklong marine reserve in the central Philippines glisten in the sunlight but stink of fuel as thick sludge washes ashore.

As disaster workers and residents of nearby villages tried again on Thursday to contain last week's oil spill from a sunken tanker off the island of Guimaras, worries were growing about the impact on fish, plants, people and tourism in the area.

"My fear is all the mangrove trees will die," said Joseph Gajo, a caretaker at the 1,143-ha (2,857-acre) marine reserve. "If the mangroves and coral die, this will affect fishermen."

The mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass beds of Taklong, on the southern tip of Guimaras island, serve as a feeding and nursery ground for 144 species of fish and other sea creatures. Along the coastline, men were putting up nets to try to keep the spill from washing ashore. In another area, rubber boats were being used as barriers.

The provincial government declared Guimaras a disaster zone after the spill of about 200,000 liters of bunker oil on Friday. Chartered by Petron Corp., the largest oil refiner in the Philippines, the tanker was carrying about 2 million liters of the industrial fuel when it sank in rough seas.

Virginia Ruivivar, a Petron spokeswoman, said the cost of the clean up and any losses incurred by the company from the spill would be covered by insurance. "What we are trying to do is to help the community in the clean up efforts," she said. "We are hoping that the rest of the cargo will remain intact where it is."

NO CATCH

Officials have warned that the pollution could take three years to clean up, with more than 15,000 people and 200 km (120 miles) of coastline affected.

"We have no catch, we are leaving now. We can't stand the smell of bunker oil," one of two fisherman shouted as they paddled a small boat near the marine reserve.

The spill of about 200 tonnes of oil is the worst to hit the Philippines but pales against the world's biggest accident, the 1979 collision between the Atlantic Empress and another vessel that leaked 287,000 tonnes into the sea off Tobago.

Still, Philippine officials fear a wider disaster if the estimated 1,800 tonnes still inside the sunken tanker seep out. "The ship is divided into 10 tanks. Each tank contains 200,000 liters," Arthur Gosingan, head of the Coast Guard, said. "We hope none of the remaining tanks will rupture."

Some families have moved away from the shores of Guimaras, about 470 km (290 miles) south of Manila, as the fuel washes up on beaches, staining sand and trees.

Health officials have advised residents not to eat anything from the contaminated waters but some people, dependent on the sea for food, have ignored the warning.

Environmental group Greenpeace said the Philippines must hold Petron and its partners accountable for the damage. "We will go after those who may be found responsible and liable for this environmental catastrophe," said Ignacio Bunye, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's spokesman. "In the meantime, let us focus our energies and resources on a fast clean up to prevent the spread of pollution." (With reporting by Karen Lema)

Yahoo News 17 Aug 06
Philippines warns oil spill could get worse

NUEVA VALENCIA, Philippines (AFP) - The Philippines has said that a massive oil spill could get much worse without urgent help to lift a stricken tanker, still loaded with fuel, off the ocean floor.

The spill, which has already devastated nature sites and covered miles of coastline in black sludge, has been caused by only a fraction of the oil on the doomed Solar I seeping out of the ship's hold, officials said.

Dead fish, crabs and other marine organisms were starting to wash up on the blackened shores of this central Philippine town that suffered some of the worst contamination.

President Gloria Arroyo ordered her government "to seek all the necessary assistance, domestic or international, to contain and remove the threat." In a statement she also ordered relief aid into the affected communities around the central Philippine island of Guimaras.

"It's easier to combat the oil when it's still in the water," coastguard chief Vice Admiral Arturo Gosingan said. Cleaning up the coast would be a huge and lengthy manual operation, he added.

The ship sank in the Panay Gulf off Guimaras island on Friday, leaving two of the 20 crew missing. Coastguard spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Joseph Coyme said survivors indicated that only one of the ship's 10 containers had ruptured, emptying more than 50,000 gallons of oil into the sea.

Around 450,000 gallons are still on board, and there were fears the seawater and pressure could burst the tanks, dramatically worsening what is already acknowledged as the worst oil spill in the country's history.

"We cannot just sit and wait," said Coyme. He said the spill could not be cleaned up for the moment and called raising the vessel the "foremost priority."

The government has asked Indonesia and Japan to spend specialist teams to contain the oil spill, but Coyme said the ship would have to be refloated before the clean-up begins, adding that the United States had been asked for urgent assistance.

A spokeswoman for the US embassy in Manila told AFP: "We are informally talking with the Philippine government about the spill." But she gave no further details.

The tanker is resting in some 3,000 feet (900 metres) of water. Philippine salvage teams only have the capability to dive to around 120 feet. Coyme said there had been no formal offer of help so far from Tokyo or Jakarta.

Gosingan, speaking on local television, said the ship's owners were consulting with British experts "to see what they can do." He said robotic equipment would probably be needed just to reach the bottom and rig a hose to suck the oil out of the remaining nine containers in the hold.

While the oil slick could not be cleaned up for the moment, coastguard vessels as well as tugboats deployed by the ship's owners were trying to contain it with giant booms and chemical dispersants, Coyme said.

The slick now stretches across 13 nautical miles of water. Coyme said the black sludge had already reached Negros, the country's fourth largest island, and contaminated the beaches of Bago city and two adjacent towns.

Guimaras officials have said the environmental disaster has affected more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) of coastline, damaging mangrove swamps, seaweed plantations and coral reefs containing popular dive sites.

The coastguard has ordered Petron Corp., which chartered the tanker, to pay for the cost of the cleanup, which environmental groups said could run into million of dollars and take at least a year.

Civil defense office deputy chief Anthony Golez meanwhile warned the public against the possible danger posed by the slick. Bathing, swimming, washing clothes or wading in the affected bodies of water are discouraged, while fish and shellfish harvested from these areas should not be sold or eaten, he said in a statement.
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