Oil Spill in the Sundarbans

Bangladesh oil spill threatens rare dolphins
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times Kolkata, December 11, 2014

An oil spill from a tanker that collided with an empty cargo ship in Bangladesh-Sunderbans on Tuesday has sent a chill down the spine of wildlife officials in the Sunderbans in this country. A high alert has been sounded and forest officials along with other security agencies are closely monitoring the situation in the Sunderbans.

“Till now there are no reports that the oil spill has reached the Indian part of the Sunderbans. All our field staffs, particularly those deployed in the camps along the Indo-Bangla border, have been alerted. Patrolling has been beefed up to check if the oil spill is spreading to the Indian Sunderbans,” Ujjwal Kumar Bhattacharya chief wildlife warden of the state, told HT.

A tanker named OT Southern Star 7, carrying an estimated 350,000 litres (350 tons) of oil collided on Tuesday with another empty cargo vessel and partly sank in the Sunderbans’ Shela River in Bangladesh. The cargo ship was allegedly unable to locate the Southern Star due to heavy fog.

Experts in both the countries are apprehending that the spill will cause massive ecological disaster in the biggest mangrove forest in the world.

“The oil spill will mainly affect the avifauna (animals which depend on the water) including migratory birds, the dolphins, otters, Olive Ridley Turtles and crocodiles. Many could lose their lives especially where rivers meet the sea. This is the time when migratory birds including those from Siberia frequent the Sunderbans. This is also the time when Olive Ridley Turtles come close to the beaches to lay their eggs,” said S B Mondol, former head of the state forest department.

The Sunderbans forest, which covers 26,000 square kilometers in India and Bangladesh, is the habitat of famous Royal Bengal Tigers. It is also a UNESCO Heritage site.

“We have also informed all other security agencies including the BSF and the Coast Guard which patrol our borders to check if the oil spill is approaching our border. Our boats are also patrolling the Harinbhanga River and Raimangal which forms the boundary between the Indian Sunderbans and Bangaldesh,” said S Dasgupta field director of the Sunderban Tiger Reserve.

But wildlife experts and NGOs working on the Sunderbans are wary and apprehend that the spill in Bangladesh could affect the Indian part as the rivers are contiguous and the oil could reach the Indian rivers especially down south where the rivers meet the Bay of Bengal.

“The oil could easily reach this part of the Sunderbans through the rivers. The most prone would be the areas such as Baghamara and Mechua where the delta meets the sea in the southern part of the Sunderbans. If that happens it would spell doom,” said Biswajit Roy Choudhury of Nature Environment and Wildlife Society.

According to Bangladesh forest authorities the oil had spread along a 40 km (25 mile) section of the Sela River and has also affected portions of Passur river. Indian forest officials are, however, hopeful that the spill won’t affect the Indian side as each individual river drains into the sea.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-...1-1295627.aspx

Sad story. The fragile ecosystem of Sundarbans is already under tremendous pressure due to explosion of human population, reclaiming land, poaching and increasing salinity levels due to less flow of fresh water. When we add 350 tons of oil to the mix, the ecosystem gets severe stress. This being the migratory season, many birds will get affected. The Olive ridley turtles too will die in huge numbers. Though divide by political boundaries, Sundarbans is one ecosystem. The wildlife move from one area to the other oblivious of the political boundaries. So whether the flora and fauna die in one part of the ecosystem or the other is moot, as ultimately it is a loss.

I hope not the entire 350,000 litres of oil has spilled.

I echo your comments, Sabyasachi. I hope and wish our disaster management teams could contribute to containing the spill, even on the Bangladeshi side. Ecosystems know no political boundaries, as you said, and this is not just one country's crisis.

Its sad how much we humans are destroying the environment in one way or other. The report says the sunken oil tanker was salvaged more than 30 hours after it sank :(. Tragic incident.

It is a huge tragedy..there is very little one can do at this point. oil spills are notoriously difficult to contain and the after affects are sure to hit all organisms in the affected areas

I wonder if this a case of negligence. Post some major oil spills, in the coastal waters of most developed countries even minor slips and non adherence to precautionary measures on part of the oil carriers is taken very seriously and companies which are negligent are heavily penalised and hence the shipping companies are also extremely careful while treading in those waters. In countries like ours everything can be managed at a price and rules with peanut penalties are invariably made to be broken.

TFS
Roopak

According to this article- http://www.downtoearth.org.in/conten...rbans-ecology- it is a case of negligence.
"Despite warnings from environmentalists, Bangladesh allowed commercial shipping through the sensitive ecological zone of Sela river in 2011"