Oil spill and illegal dumping pollute Fujairah coast

Dubai: Fujairah's coastline suffers from oil pollution - either spilt but more commonly illegally dumped - on an average of once a month because of lack of tanker reception facilities for waste, experts say.

With the majority of oil tankers passing through the Arabian Gulf and ending in the UAE, oil has taken its toll on the eastern coast according to the Abu Dhabi-based SEACOR Environmental Services.

It was noted that some of the oil spills were not accidental as implied, but were in fact the result of illegal dumping of oil waste products into the sea.

Fujairah and Khorfakkan, which rank as the biggest bunker port in the world, house the only reception facility for the UAE, and even that has a minimal capacity said John Dipple, managing director of SEACOR Environmental Services.

In 2008, under observation of the principles of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (Marpol 73/78), an area - bigger than the GCC - was marked as a Special Area in which no oil or solid waste would be allowed to be dumped at sea.

However, a lack of proper waste disposal facilities in the region has resulted in the practice of waste oil products being tossed overboard, even in the specially designated area.

Reception facilities deal with old oil, solid waste, such as ropes and plastics or chemicals and sludge.

"We've probably cleaned up about a dozen spills in the last year on the east coast. There is no infrastructure or surveillance in place to trace boats that have dumped," he said.

It could take a few years before a Gulf-wide oil waste disposal system is properly in place, he added.

"There are not enough reception facilities in the region. You could have one in each port or in a main area for all ships but the UAE has so much traffic processing that waste is something else, and it is one reason why people dump."

Fresh oil can only be dispersed within 48 hours. "Oil in Fujairah is usually dumped from tanker ballasts. It is much harder to disperse. In terms of oil quantity it is quite light. Visibly it looks bad because it is black," said Dipple.

"The only way to stop oil getting in the water is if the staff on the ship think they will be seen and fined. Then they won't do it. We are working on infrastructure to create that deterrent," Dipple told Gulf News.

"There isn't one solution. After creating a deterrent we need an active surveillance system so that if oil is spilt or dumped in the water we can find it," he said.

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Are you worried about going for a swim to UAE beaches? What other pollutants do you find on beaches? How can people be encouraged to keep beaches clean?

Something needs to be done. We have not been to any Dubai beach since the last sewerage spill. Now that Fujairah is also polluted it is really disappointing as we used to spend many weekends there.Authorities need to impose tough penalties on people destroying our environment - not just on the beaches but on streets and in desert too.
Jason
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 12, 2009, 09:53

It id a shame that a beautiful beach such as the one in Fujeirah is deteriorating before our very eyes. Such a thing never occurs in other developed coastlines. Beaches are a boon of nature and should be safeguarded from such callous acts of maritime pollution.
Shiuli Dutt Dey
Kolkata,India
Posted: January 12, 2009, 08:11

Thank you for this article.Rcent reports from fishermen suggest that red tide algae still affects their fishing catches and the further north one goes the more red the breaking waves appear.
Geoff Pound
Fujairah,UAE
Posted: January 12, 2009, 07:45