Marine rehab, recovery may take 10-25 yrs, say UP experts

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.Inquirer
Last updated 04:46am (Mla time) 09/04/2006

http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=18818

Published on page A6 of the September 4, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

GUIMARAS ISLAND -- Even as residents of this island grapple with the loss of their livelihood and suffer from illnesses due to exposure to the black sludge along their shores, they may feel the oil spill’s impact on the environment and rich marine life for a long time.

Scientists at the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) said the rehabilitation and recovery of marine life contaminated by the oil slick could take 10 to 20 years.

“Ten years is too short for recovery and it will not be to the pre-oil spill status,” said Dr. Resurreccion Sadaba, head of the UPV task force that is assessing the extent of the damage to the environment and community.

The research team is composed mostly of scientists who conducted a similar study on Semirara Island in Antique province after a power barge of the National Power Corp. ran aground off the island in December last year, spilling more than 300,000 liters of oil.

The UPV task force is also part of the group formed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to conduct a safety assessment of the air, soil and water in the oil-spill affected areas of Guimaras.
Sadaba, an expert on mangroves, said the island’s mangroves bore the brunt of the oil spill.
Bunker fuel oil has coated most of the trees because the oil slick hit the shoreline during high tide.
Sadaba said this would cause greater stress to mangroves because the bunker fuel oil blocks their lenticels or breathing pores. The trees could suffocate and eventually die.

Gov. JC Rahman Nava said the oil slick had contaminated or destroyed some 220 km of coastline, 454 hectares of mangroves and 58 ha of seaweed plantations.

Up to 90 percent of the 46-ha mangrove forest on Taklong Island alone is coated with oil sludge, according to Sadaba.

National marine reserve

The island is part of Nueva Valencia town, the hardest hit of the five municipalities of Guimaras province. It is home to the UPV marine biological station and the 1,143-ha Taklong Island National Marine Reserve (Tinmar).

The marine reserve hosts 22 of the 35 existing species of mangroves in the Philippines, including the hybrid Rhizophova lamarckii (Bakhaw hybrid). Many of the mangroves in the area are 50 to 75 years old.

Sadaba said the UPV task force could not say if the mangroves would survive because no study has been conducted on how the specific species of mangroves would react to oil spills.
“The (bunker fuel) has not settled to the bottom of the sea and it’s too early to conclude on the comprehensive impact of the oil spill on marine life,” he said.

Hardest hit

The task force is focusing on Tinmar because it is one of the worst-hit areas and is host to a variety of species, according to UPV Chancellor Glenn Aguilar. “It’s definitely (a) huge job,” he said.

Aguilar said the biophysical assessment would be completed within the week and the assessment of the socioeconomic impact would start by next week.

The damage to Tinmar and other areas in Guimaras will affect other areas in the region, said Nestor Yunque, station head of the UPV marine biological station.

The marine reserve serves as a fish nursery and is home to 30 fish species.
While the oil spill will not result in a massive fishkill because fish instinctively avoid oil spill areas, it will take time for the various fish species to return to the area.

But other forms of marine life that are not mobile will die from the oil spill.
There have been reports of dying or dead coral snakes, marine turtles, mollusks and shellfish.
The spill has also affected sea cucumbers, sea urchins and sea grass.

Interdependence

Sadaba said the oil spill would disturb or cut off the interdependence of marine life.
The experts are also concerned over the impact of the oil slick on plankton, because like the oil slick, plankton float and are carried by the current. Plankton, which are very small plants and animals, form the base of the marine food pyramid.

Sadaba said the long-term use of huge volumes of chemical dispersants could also affect the ecosystem, adding that there is no study on the impact of dispersants on the environment, especially on mangroves.

But he said the most important concern now was the removal of the sunken vessel MT Solar I, which is believed to still contain the bulk of its cargo of two million liters of bunker fuel oil.
The location of the sunken tanker was confirmed last week by a remote-operated vehicle of a Japanese survey ship, the MT Shinsei Maru, but the Philippine Coast Guard said the operation to remove the tanker or siphon its contents would take weeks.

Sadaba said this would make all plans tentative.

“As long as the threat is still there, we can’t really plan for recovery. It will be palliative,” he said.