CHENNAI: Nearly three years after the devastating Chennai oil spill, southern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a joint expert committee to assess the remedial measures by the State government to restore the coast and submit a report in three months.
This follows complaints of government’s inaction in taking up full-scale restoration works. Now, the panel, comprising expert members from Union Environment Ministry, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and State fisheries department, has been mandated to check the quality of aquatic life, look for residual remains of oil spill in seabed and river mouths.
After the oil spill off Ennore coast on January 28, 2017, the coast has been cleaned, but sufficient efforts were not made to assess the extent of environment damage caused by the spill, it is pointed out.
A detailed long-term monitoring programme on health of larvae, benthic organisms, turtles and birds during the post-spill period is what is needed to understand the extent of recovery of biological system and the likely period that would take for complete recovery of the ecosystem in the oil spill affected Ennore and Marina coasts. Committee on Assessment of Environmental Impact of Oil spill, constituted by State Department of Environment three months after the incident submitted its report, which gathered dust even as Central and State research institutes awaited funds for long to commence the studies on various aspects, including fisheries.
Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management Project Directorate (ICMAM) carried out analysis of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) in edible fish caught using trawl nets operated by fishing trawlers at depths of about 10m.
The analysis showed 21 species were contaminated by TPH measuring 4.51 µg/g. No data on safe limits for TPH in fish is available, which makes it difficult to interpret whether the observed value of 4.51 µg/g in fish is within safe limit. Experts are concerned about the probable environmental impacts.
Experts concerned
Considering the high viscosity of bunker oil, low reactivity and persistency in environment, it is certain that the oil will continue to be present in sediments and organisms at least for a period of five-eight years, experts say.