Dubai imposes heavy fine on tanker for dumping residue at sea

Irresponsible oil tanker owners are taking advantage of the recent oil slick to illegally wash out their tanks in UAE waters, a senior Dubai Municipality official said yesterday. The tanker Atlantic Blue was caught dumping oil residue off Port Rashid last Thursday and its owner has been fined Dh150,000 for violating local environment protection laws as well as international and regional treaties.

But many other ships are also flouting the law regardless of the environmental impact. Redha Hassan Salman, head of the Municipality's Environment Protection and Safety Section, said a one square mile sheen of oil was spotted five miles off Dubai's southern coast on Sunday.

He said the oil was not from the Zainab which sank off the coast of Jebel Ali on April 14, but from a tanker cleaning its tanks. "The oil sheen has been discharged by a tanker taking advantage of the recent oil spill," he said. "The source has not been identified yet, but we are evaluating the problem and the need for increased surveillance."

The oil is not expected to reach the Dubai coastline, unlike the slicks from the Zainab which washed up on beaches in Dubai and the Northern Emirates for several weeks. Hussein Nasser Lootah, the Municipality's Assistant Director-General for Environment and Public Health Affairs, said urgent action is needed to thwart those who pollute the local seas.

"The country's territorial waters are subject to a lot of negative practices by some vessels," he said. "This calls for urgent action on the part of the concerned bodies such as the Coast Guard. There should be strict monitoring and stringent actions against these types of violations."

He urged shipping agents to instruct owners of vessels and tankers to respect international and regional treaties on environment protection. "We will spare no efforts in implementing these treaties and imposing hefty fines against violators to pay compensation for the damage," he declared.

Lootah said the Municipality will reward anybody who provides information about environmental crimes if they can substantiate it with solid evidence. A shipping source said "cowboy" operators will illegally clean their tanks at sea rather than pay to have it done in port.

"If a ship is carrying a cargo of crude and its next cargo is going to be higher-quality fuel, then the tanks need to be cleaned out first," he said. "The ship owner should pay an onshore facility to wash out the tanks, but some cowboys suck up sea water into their tanks, swill it around and then pump it back into the sea.

This is illegal, but following the Zainab spill it has been happening more often because people think they will get away with it. "The problem the authorities have is finding out which ship is responsible.

At anchorage you can have up to 100 ships within half a mile of each other but, within a short period of time after a ship has washed out its tanks, the oil has dispersed and it is very hard to prove which one was responsible. "This is starting to be addressed around the world with the use of satellite imagery which can take regular pictures in order to spot violations as they occur."