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trinidad and tobago
Trinidad and Tobago Mulls Historic Disaster Declaration After 'Ghost Ship' Oil Spill
"Right now the situation is not under control," the prime minister said Sunday on the eve of the Caribbean nation's world-renowned Carnival.
Feb 11, 2024
The government of Trinidad and Tobago this weekend said it is considering what would be the island nation's first-ever Level 3 diaster declaration amid a worsening environmental disaster caused by an oil spill from a mysterious ship on the eve of the Caribbean country's famed Carinval.
As more than 1,000 emergency workers and volunteers raced to clean up the massive spill off Tobago's southwestern coast, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley told reporters Sunday that "cleaning and restoration can only begin as soon as we have the situation under control. Right now the situation is not under control."
The spill came from a vessel of indeterminate origin that capsized off the coast of the Cove Eco Industrial Park on Wednesday. As Agence France-Presse reported, the ship—named Gulfstream—"made no emergency calls, with no sign of crew, and no clear sign of ownership."
Officials said the spill has affected over 25 miles of coastline and has damaged a coral reef and Atlantic beaches, threatening not only the environment and residents' health but also the vital tourism industry as the country prepares to host its world-renowned Carnival this week.
Farley Augustine, chief secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, told reporters Saturday that the government may declare a Level 3 disaster for the first time in the nation's history. Level 3 spills require "substantial" international support.
"Everything indicates that we are going in that direction," Augustine said.
There have been hundreds of oil spills off Trinidad and Tobago's coast over the past decade. These accidents rarely attract international media attention and often go unpunished.
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"It's a Sea of Oil": Outrage in Trinidad Over Latest Spill Destroying Ecosystem, Fishery
"There have been in excess of 377 oil spills since 2015 and no one has ever been charged or prosecuted. Every drop of hydrocarbon has an ever-lasting impact on our marine ecosystem.”
Aug 13, 2021
Fishers and environmentalists expressed outrage this week over what they called the inadequate response by Trinidad and Tobago's government and one of the country's leading fossil fuel companies to the latest of hundreds of reported oil spills there in recent years.
"What is going to happen to the fisherfolk? What will be the environmental impacts, and what will this do to fishing in the Gulf?"
--Imitiaz Khan, Carli Bay Fishing Association
Earlier this week Trinidad and Tobago's Environmental Management Authority (EMA), Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI), and Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) announced they were investigating the spill, which Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited said originated from a leak in a pipeline near its Pointe-a-Pierre refinery last weekend, according to the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian.
EMA officials said containment measures and booms were deployed in order to mitigate the accident, and that vessels were being used to break up the oil coating the water's surface.
Gary Aboud, corporate secretary of the advocacy group Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS), disputed claims by the government and Paria Fuel Trading Company. Earlier, Aboud posted videos of the spill, including one in which he cleans a bird slicked in oil, and another showing him dipping his hands into the blackened water before bringing them up completely covered in viscous crude.
\u201cMassive oil spill in the Gulf of Paria \nParia Fuel, Where are the oil booms?\nhttps://t.co/j1GE1uZS5J\n\n#oilspill #gulfofparia #ffos\u201d— ffostt (@ffostt) 1628523689
"It's like a porridge," Aboud says in the video. "We have a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Paria right now... All day long we have been calling the IMA, the EMA, the Ministry of Energy--no response. The oil continues to flow."
"This oil causes cancer," Aboud continues. "It's so ridiculous. Fishermen can't get any compensation. The fishery is collapsing."
Instead of collecting and cleaning up the oil, Aboud accuses Paria Fuel Trading Company of "driving around and chopping it up" in a boat, "so that it will sink and continue to do damage. When you break the oil up, it sinks and goes to the ocean bed, where it will continue to degrade and get into the food chain."
"It's a sea of oil," laments Aboud. "Please share this video and let the whole country see."
\u201cUpdate: Oil spill in Gulf of Paria \n\nA dispersant was used to break up the large oil clumps resulting in a wider contamination of the Gulf of Paria. 2 oiled pelicans were captured and have been taken to the Wildlife Center for rehabilitation.\n\nWill Paria be fined ?\u201d— ffostt (@ffostt) 1628547522
In a statement reported by Loop, Aboud said: "We are calling on the authorities to make public the cause of the spill, volume, nature of the hydrocarbon spilled, and those who are responsible. Furthermore, pray that our government [and] EMA act in the interest of our environment and prosecute this polluter."
"There have been in excess of 377 oil spills since 2015 and no one has ever been charged or prosecuted," said Aboud. "Every drop of hydrocarbon has an ever-lasting impact on our marine ecosystem."
According to FFOS, there have actually been 498 reported spills on land and in the sea since 2018. These rarely draw international attention, although last October, a listing Venezuelan tanker carrying--but not spilling--1.3 million barrels of oil in the Gulf of Paria made headlines around the world.
\u201cOil spills harm communities & endanger #biodiversity.\n\nThe Gulf of Paria is one of the most biodiverse regions in Trinidad and Tobago, accounting for 60% of all fishing activity. Approx 40,000 people depend on the fishing industry.\n\n#EndPollutersPower \u270a\nhttps://t.co/wPfEj8hC52\u201d— Global Witness (@Global Witness) 1628865041
FFOS program director Lisa Premchand told Britain's The Guardian that her group saw no evidence that Paria Fuel Trading Company was using booms to contain the spill.
"Through our drone imagery, there were no booms in the Gulf of Paria around this spill to contain the oil from spreading even further," she said. "It takes years and years for oil to degrade. There is a buildup of chemicals in our water. Our gulf is becoming more polluted over time with the increase in intensity of oil spills."
Imitiaz Khan, president of the Carli Bay Fishing Association, told the Daily Express that he was speechless when he viewed video footage of the new spill.
"I was wondering what is going to happen to the fisherfolk? What will be the environmental impacts, and what will this do to fishing in the Gulf?" he said. "The Gulf is the nursery of our fisheries, and with the amount of oil we were seeing and the way they were handling it, there is a grave concern."
\u201cApart from the pandemic, fisherfolk have had to face piracy, increased fuel cost, and a lack of security on the open seas.\nMORE HERE https://t.co/RnMwyvHXZ6\u201d— Trinidad and Tobago Express Newspapers (@Trinidad and Tobago Express Newspapers) 1628595004
"Instead of containing it, there is a video where their vessels are spinning in the oil to break it up, and that is not the way it should be dealt with," Khan continued. "We had a similar incident in 2018 in Orange Valley, and it negatively affected fishermen as fish prices went down because a lot of people were concerned about eating fish from the Gulf. Seventy-five percent of the fishing in this country happens in the Gulf, so this is a major concern for us."
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Amid US Sanctions, Venezuelan Oil Tanker at Risk of Spilling 1.3 Million Barrels and Devastating Caribbean Ecosystems
"The Caribbean Sea would never be the same" should the oil spill, climate scientist Eric Holthaus tweeted.
Oct 19, 2020
The companies that own a Venezuelan oil vessel that's been positioned off the country's coast for nearly two years called on the U.S. to give a "green light" to unload 1.3 million barrels of oil after local environmental advocates on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago expressed alarm over the recent appearance of the boat, which is tilting to one side and looks to be on the verge of sinking.
Recent pictures and footage show the FSO Nabarima, which has been in the Gulf of Paria since January 2019, tilting at about a 25o angle. The boat flies the Venezuelan flag and is operated by the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Eni, the Italian oil giant.
\u201cFootage of the FSO Nabarima taken yesterday by FFOS. The Venezuelan ambassador to Trinidad says the vessel is stable. It\u2019s still tilting at a dangerous angle \n#Venezuela\u201d— CNW (@CNW) 1602940818
The U.S. embassy in Trinidad and Tobago said Friday that the joint venture "has a responsibility to take action to avoid an environmental disaster in Venezuelan waters." But Eni on Friday said that because the U.S. sanctioned PDVSA in 2019 along with President Nicolas Maduro, it must wait for approval from the U.S. to unload its oil "in order to prevent any sanctions risk."
"If this thing flips we will all pay the consequences for decades to come."
--Gary Aboud, Fishermen and Friends of the Sea
The embassy said in a statement that "the United States' Venezuela sanctions program is not designed to target activities addressing safety, environmental, or humanitarian concerns," suggesting local authorities are free to unload the oil.
The Nabarima has the capacity to carry 1.4 million barrels of oil and is currently holding 1.3 million barrels--equivalent to more than 54 million gallons of crude oil.
A spill from the vessel in the Gulf of Paria would dump five times the amount of oil that was spilled by the Exxon Valdez in 1989 off the Alaskan coast, noted climate scientist Eric Holthaus.
\u201cThis is *five times* the Exxon Valdez spill. The Caribbean Sea would never be the same. https://t.co/BOOH2h9kOO\u201d— Eric Holthaus (@Eric Holthaus) 1603110164
An unnamed source told Reuters that the vessel is tilted only because its crew has been repairing its valves, but Gary Aboud of the Trinidadian environmental group Fishermen and Friends of the Sea told the outlet that the recent images of the Nabarima "should be [a] red alert."
"If this thing flips we will all pay the consequences for decades to come," Aboud said.
Global Voices reported Sunday that an oil spill in the Gulf of Paria could turn it into a "dead, contaminated sea," threatening the mangrove forests, lagoons, estuaries, beaches, and ecosystems there.
The gulf serves as a habitat and migratory route for bird species as well as whales, dolphins, turtles, and other fauna. It is also where more than 50% of all fishing activity in Trinidad and Tobago takes places, and the potentially impending spill would devastate the local fishing industry.
"If it goes down we are all f-a-c-k-e-d," Aboud told Tampa, Florida-based radio station WMNF. "There's no nice way to say what will happen to us. Because 1.3 million barrels in an enclosed shallow, basin of water can only spell doom and gloom."
The tilting ship offers "one more good reason to leave oil behind," tweeted 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben.
\u201c5x as much oil as the Exxon Valdez spilled. Perhaps some authorities might want to investigate.\n(And one more good reason to leave oil behind)\nhttps://t.co/6kQUuGds1P\u201d— Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben) 1603055829
"It's an accident that's happening in slow motion," Aboud told WMNF. "It's very clear that the vessel is in trouble. There's no doubt."
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