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Vashi, Elephanta worst hit by oil spill
The Bombay Natural History Society has deemed the Elephanta Caves and Vashi creek as the worst affected regions in the Arabian Sea after the August 7 oil spill.
The Bombay Natural History Society has deemed the Elephanta Caves and Vashi creek as the worst affected regions in the Arabian Sea after the August 7 oil spill. At least four dolphins have been found dead in the locality between the Elephanta Caves and the Raigad coast.
A collision between two merchant vessels, MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia, had seen close to 1,000 tonnes of oil spill into the sea.
In its first-ever report after the spill, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), in its preliminary Rapid Assessment Report, has detailed the extent of damage caused to mangroves and marine life from the eight sites chosen to study. The report says that marine life in Elephanta caves and the Vashi creek is almost non-existent.
BNHS has been appointed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to assess the impact of the oil spill.
The impact is so severe at the Elephanta Caves that scientists are unable to ascertain when mangroves or marine life will revive naturally.
The tidal surge at Elephanta Caves is not strong enough to wash away the oil.
“The quantity of oil is much larger because it was close to ground zero,” said, Dr Deepak Apte, marine biologist and assistant director at BNHS who is heading the study.
“There is no regeneration of mangroves even in Vashi,” he added. But scientists are optimistic of marine life getting back to normalcy in one and a half years in Vashi. “Defoliation of mangrove leaves has started in Vashi,” Apte said.
But it is still too early to determine the speed at which marine life in Vashi creek could recover. “We have not found any new mangrove leaves, and a natural clean up of the creek will take more time. This is because tides hit the creek just twice in a month,” added Apte.
The only positive factor that scientists have found in Vashi is the return of the fiddler crabs, a very sensitive marine species.
Uran happens to be an area that has given positive signs. One of the worst affected regions, oil lodged in the rocky region has been washed off. Scientists have spotted sensitive sea animals such as fiddler crabs, sea slugs and Haminoea Vitrea return to the area.
