Jassmine Shadiqe The New Straits Times 13 Sep 11;
PONTIAN: A 200 metre long oil spillage found the past few days at the Johor National Park's coastal areas near here was believed to be caused by illegal disposal of oil wastage by commercial tankers.
The black oily patches about three meters wide and four centimeters thick, was spotted by local fishermen near Tanjung Piai Resort's wave breaker, and also the mangrove area since Friday.
Johor National Parks director Suhairi Hashim said besides lodging a report with the Johor Department of Environment (DOE) , pro-active measures were taken to contain the spillage from spreading.
He said the effort was a collaborative measure taken by several departments and were conducted gotong-royong- styled.
“Maritime Department officers, accompanied by Tanjung Piai village head Rohaizad Hamid, also conducted checks at the areas and upon establishing the ares effected, lodged separate reports with DOE.
“It is believed commercial tanker ships anchored at Tanjung Piai waters are also responsible for illegally disposing oil wastage into the sea,” he said.
“Three DOE officers had conducted checks starting from the coastal areas at the National Park, Tanjung Piai until the Penghujung Benua area,” he added.
Suhairi said the gotong-royong programme was conducted following a meeting with DOE, Tanjung Piai Fire and Rescue Department, Fisheries Department and police.
More than 100 government officers joined the exercise to clean the seashore today.
Also present during the gotong-royong that started at 7am, was Kukup State assemblyman Datuk Md Othman Yusof .
Read more: 200 metre long oil spill found near Pontian http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/200metrelongoilspillfoundnearPontian/Article/#ixzz1XsQir2J6
