The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A LOCAL environmentalist said the government keeps putting “one Band- Aid on top of cancer” in its response to the sunken ship in South Abaco.

Sam Duncombe’s comments came yesterday after clean-up crews had been deployed to Abaco to assist with remediation efforts after a cargo ship that was carrying heavy fuel onboard sank in waters in the southern part of the island.

Onego Traveller, a general cargo ship registered in Antigua and Barbuda that was built in 2002, reportedly began taking on water in the ballast water tank area near Hole in the Wall, located in South Abaco, on Thursday.

“If we’re not going to look at minimising the amount of ships that are coming here with oil by going to renewable energy. . .We’re going to continue to have these issues. So, this is just one Band-Aid on top of cancer. You know, tomorrow, it’s going to be another one,” Ms Duncombe told The Tribune.

Ms Duncombe stressed that if the government continues to allow large numbers of ships carrying oil and fossil fuels onboard, incidents that can impact the environment are likely to continue to happen.

When contacted for comment yesterday, Dr Rhianna Neely-Murphy, director of environmental planning and protection, said officials were assessing to see if there was any environmental impact from the ship and said the remediation process was going well so far.

“We are looking through our documents now on the state of the environment before the vessel would have sunk to do a comparison so that we can have an estimate of actually what has been damaged and where we need to go from now,” Dr Neely-Murphy said.

She added that authorities have been at the site since Tuesday to provide remediation and clean-up efforts.

“We have a government team on the ground in Abaco. And they are supervising the salvage operation of the vessels. And the cleanup of the barrels and the cleanup of the Ferix. And the extraction, the removal of the barrels of oil from the vessel.”

Dr Neely-Murphy explained that there was no oil spill on the coast of Abaco. She said there was Ferix in the area which is a chemical used for the treatment of water.

“On its own it’s not a contaminant of concern to us. And once we are able, from the advice we have been given, once we are able to have it dispersed properly it should not be of concern to us anymore,” she stressed.

However, Ms Duncombe argued that “anything going into the marine ecosystem is a pollutant on some level”, adding Ferix may not be as harmful as crude oil or other substances, but it still is a pollutant entering the environment.

Ms Duncombe said that the government is playing down the urgency of the incident by claiming the impact on the environment from the sunken ship isn’t significant.

On Tuesday, The Tribune spoke to Central and South Abaco MP John Pinder who said he was very “optimistic” that there will be no long-term environmental effects in the area. He also denied claims of there being an oil spill on the south coast of Abaco, describing it as “erroneous”.

Ms Duncombe said the government needs to prioritise protecting the environment and minimise the number of ships that are allowed in.

“Everything has an effect on the marine ecosystem. And that’s why we need to be doing more and we need to do better.”