Ben Tan and Syed Umar Ariff New Straits Times 30 May 10;
KOTA TINGGI: Some 30km of beach near Teluk Ramunia are polluted with oil sludge following the collision between two ships in Singaporean waters last Tuesday.
Among the areas involved are Tanjung Punggai, Sungai Rengit, Langkah Baru, Sungai Buntu, Sungai Kapal and Sungai Musuh.
Fishermen said the sludge hit the beaches on Friday night and about 5am yesterday it had already reached the boat jetties.Workers from the Marine Department and the Department of Environment, with the help of a private cleaning crew, have been deployed to prevent the sludge from reaching nearby rivers.
"We had to call in the authorities as the oil sludge will damage our fishing gear should we go out to sea," said Sungai Musuh fisherman Muhammad Basra, 63.
On Tuesday, MT Bunga Kelana collided with bulk carrier MV Waily, causing about 2,500 tonnes of crude oil to spill from a gash on the double-hulled tanker's port side.
Efforts to contain the spill have been carried out, with crews using biogradable dispersants and absorbent materials to soak up the oil, while 3.3km of booms circled the main slick in the shipping lanes that straddle the waters of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
It is understood that the fishermen have not been going out to sea since the oil spill began.
At the same time, some villagers near Sungai Rengit have been cleaning up the beaches between Kampung Jejak Baru and Tanjung Punggai since oil sludge hit the shore.
Meanwhile, ships and vessels that dock around the waters of Teluk Ramunia are alleged to have taken advantage of the massive oil spill to illegally dump their oil waste into the sea.
This follows the discovery of 50 sacks filled with oil sludge that were floating around Pulau Lima which is close to the Sungai Musuh jetty here.
Fisherman Ismail Rejab, 55, said he found the tied sacks in the waters and was not dismissing the possibility that there were more such sacks in the area.
He said such findings were not a good sign as the area was among the main locations where fishermen caught fish and prawns.
Ismail claimed that fishermen here had never found such sacks before the oil spill on Tuesday.
"I believe irresponsible parties are taking advantage of the oil spill to clean and dump oil waste from the vessels here."
In Segamat, Agriculture and Ago-based Industries Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar said the Malaysian Fisheries Development Board would work together with the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry to work out a compensation package for the fishermen whose livelihood had been affected by the oil spill.
Oil spill from tankers leaves 1,400 fishermen beached
Farik Zolkepli The Star 30 May 10;
PENGERANG: The oil spill after the collision between two tankers in the Singapore Strait on Monday has spread to seven other locations, affecting at least 1,400 fishermen.
Patches of oil can be seen in Tanjung Stapa, Tanjung Kapal, Sungai Rengit, Kampung Jawa, Sungai Mu-suh, Sungai Haji Ahmad and Sungai Haji Yusof here.
Department of Environment (DOE) director-general Datuk Ros-nani Ibarahim said the oil slick, which was earlier spotted in Tanjung Ayam and Teluk Ramunia, had now spread to other locations.
“However, it is just a few spots here and there and it is not a major concern. The clean-up operation is ongoing and is estimated that it will take less than a week to complete,” she said yesterday.
On fears shown by Pengerang villagers that some ships were taking advantage of the spill by dumping oil, Rosnani said it was not possible.
“Our personnel, marine police, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and the Southern Region Marine department are patrolling the affected areas which have been cordoned off.”
Rosnani said the clean-up operation, utilising booms and dispersant, had been difficult due to thunderstorms as well as choppy waters.
She added that 6,900 litres of sludge had been collected during the operation. Some 2,000 tonnes of crude oil were spilt in the collision.
Rosnani said the department was also in touch with the Singapore Maritime and Port Authority daily for updates.
“The Singaporean authority monitors their waters as well as oil that escaped their cordoned-off area.
Meanwhile, fisherman Zakaria Idris, 49, said most of his counterparts were assisting in the clean-up.
“We are paid about RM50 daily by contractors hired by DOE. However, we are suffering losses of about RM100 a day as we cannot go out to sea,” he said.
Another fisherman Latipah Abdul Jalil, 50, said the Tanjung Ayam waters had turned black since Friday night.
“We hope the authorities will complete the clean-up operation soon. This oil spill is affecting our rice bowl,” he said.
Malaysian-registered tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 collided with bulk carrier MV Waily in the strait, about 13km southeast of Changi East on Monday morning.
Clean-up first, then consider our fuel future
The Sunday Star Says 30 May 10;
WHATEVER made the Grenadines bulk carrier MV Waily collide into the Malaysian tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 may well be under investigation already, but what must concern the authorities more for now is how to rid the Singapore Straits and adjacent areas of the resulting oil slick.
Some 2,500 tonnes of crude reportedly leaked into the sea as a result of the collision early last Tuesday. Winds and tides then conspired to spread the slick farther afield over the days that followed.
Initial efforts consisting of 14 hours of hard work by Singaporean and Malaysian police managed to remove some of the slick, but the rest remained to spread even more. In the best regional spirit of Asean cooperation, Indonesia also contributed to the clean-up efforts.
The Johor Environment Department says protective booms had been installed by Thursday to curb the spread of the toxic oil. However, that offers little consolation when on the same day the slick entered Malaysian waters until it was less than one kilometre from the beach in Kota Tinggi – and still spreading steadily.
More than just tourism and the national economy are at stake. Public health is threatened, and fishing communities revolving around the daily catch are unjustly deprived of their livelihoods as well.
There were no onboard casualties on either vessel, and it is fortunate that despite the constantly heavy maritime traffic, more of such accidents have not happened. However, this is no cause for celebration since every single accident must be deemed unnecessary and avoided diligently by all concerned.
The relevant laws must always be in place and fully enforced to provide for adequate compensation and effective deterrence against future mishaps. Yet even that can only be second-best, since it is always better to not have mishaps in the first place.
All of this is further evidence of our need to switch to clean, renewable forms of energy away from types of fossil fuels including nuclear. If crude oil contamination alone can cause so many problems internationally, it would be far worse if highly radioactive materials are involved, particularly when terrorists threaten to steal or sabotage these materials for their nefarious purposes.