Jordan Times
Monday, March 16, 1998
Aqaba oil spill to be cleared by end of week
By Amy Henderson
AQABA — Aqaba Port authorities Sunday said a quantity of
fuel that spilled into the Gulf of Aqaba last Friday has been
contained and will be entirely cleared away by the end of this
week.
Mohammad Dalabeeh, head of the port authority, said a
Jordanian-owned cargo ship carrying livestock released roughly
three tonnes of fuel into the gulf as a result of "human
error" in the handling of valves on the ship. The ship was
sailing under the flag of the Bahamas and entered the port to
unload 4,500 head of Australian sheep.
The captain said the majority of the fuel was "light"
fuel, which is easy to collect, and because the amount of
"heavy" fuel spilled was minimal, the spillage was
easily contained.
"The Prince Hamzeh Pollution Control Centre put the booms
around the spill and it was contained almost immediately,"
Capt. Dalabeeh said. "We cleaned most of the spill the same
day and by the end of this week, nothing will remain on the
beaches."
"We don't consider this a major spill," he said.
"It was a result of a technical mistake in opening and
closing valves as opposed more serious cases where ships hit
jetties and the flow of oil is difficult to stop."
A local daily Sunday reported that an Aqaba court was expected to
fine the ship's agent.
Pollution and oil spills are a constant threat to the coral reefs
at Aqaba, but environmental experts in the port city said the
spill has not caused noticeable damage. However, they said, the
full impact can be estimated only after a week or two.
In a spill, oil blocks the coral reef "tubes" —
which essentially act as the lungs of the reefs — and
eventually suffocates it. According to a source at the Royal
Diving Society in Aqaba, a reef, growing at approximately two
centimetres per year, takes between 40 and 50 years to reach full
size.
But the source added that none of the oil spilled reached the
corals.
"The port is quite a distance from the corals," he
explained. "The spill was small and it seems that it has
been dealt with very well. The danger we face is when it is windy
and the wind blows the waves — it goes straight to the
corals."
An official at the Marine Science Station said the greatest
environmental damage would be to animals living in the intertidal
zone.
"A spill goes to the shore and affects animals there,"
said Marouf Khalaf, deputy director of the station. "So far,
we have seen no evidence of dead or sick animals. But, we can say
that we will see some, however minor. It may be another week
before we know how much."
The most devastating spill in Aqaba occurred three years ago,
when a cargo ship released 55 tonnes of oil into the gulf.