CHENNAI: A sense of resentment prevails among fisherfolk ever since the news of oil spill, following collision of two vessels near Ennore, broke out.
Fishermen claim that fish sale has been affected badly even though the catch is not hit by the oil spill. This is because they go deep sea and the oil is only near the coast, an argument that is supported by environmentalists now.
K Venkata Raman, former Director, Zoological Survey of India, told Express that the worry is not the water, but the beach sand, which is losing its properties due to oil deposits. “Firstly, the volatile portion of the oil evaporates withing 24 hours. Secondly, the water soluble part of the oil will be digested by the millions of bacteria in water, so there is not too much issue with regard to water, what we have to worry about is the sand,” he explained.
The remaining part of the oil which is the insoluble part- tar- becomes tiny balls and ends up in the sand, “These tar balls land up on the beach and will damage the microscopic inter-species fauna, which lives in between the sand granules. The animals that live on the surface, like crabs eat these microscopic organisms, they are what give the beaches life. So that is what we have to worry about,” he said.
Since it is nesting season, turtles and also spawning fish aggregate at the surface which could cause severe harm. “Since it is the Bay of Bengal, during this time water flows to the North, so a lot of turtles come from the South. Also, because the water current is that way, there is a slight chance that oil could reach Pulicat lake, where there is a lot of animal life which might be affected,” Raman said.
The lack of a proper contingency and disaster management plan, however, is going to cause harm in the future, said Raman. He explained that like the Himalayas protecting the country’s North, the coral reef protects the South. “The coral reef runs all along the beach, it acts as a wall between us and the sea, but for years, the coral reef is being abused with our bad practices. Incidents such as oil spills cause great harm. In 1800’s the Marina shoreline was 35 kms away from where it is now, but because of such incidents, we have lost much of our reef,” he explained.
“While we may not face an immediate issue, it should be noted that all man- made disasters lead to natural disasters, so we have to wait and watch,” the expert warned.