Oil spill reaches Verde Island

MANILA, Philippines — Almost three weeks since the incident, the oil spill from the sunken tanker MT Princess Empress has reached Verde Island, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official said yesterday.

“Around 7:30 in the morning… we received information from our men in the area that the oil spill has reached the waters of Verde Island,” PCG Batangas Station commander Capt. Victorino Acosta confirmed.

“As of now, it is confirmed that there are sightings (of the oil spill) in Verde Island… at some 4.4 nautical miles. There is already an oil sheen, but some of those that made landfall were black in color,” he added.

However, during an aerial inspection in the afternoon, the PCG said there were no longer traces of oil in the vicinity of waters off Verde Island, although traces of the oil spill could be found in three coastal barangays of the island – San Antonio, San Agustin and San Agapito.

The Coast Guard official also said that even before the oil spill reached Verde Island, the PCG and the local government had taken precautionary measures such as deploying strike teams, improvised oil spill booms and other equipment to contain the spread of the oil.

Acosta appealed to the public, especially the residents of the island barangays, to donate plastic bottles to use as floaters, nets and nylon cords for making improvised oil spill booms.

But even with their effort, Acosta said they could not guarantee that the oil spill would only cause minimal damage.

The PCG so far has collected approximately 230 liters of oil during yesterday’s shoreline cleanup. Since the start of cleanup operations last March 1, the PCG recovered 6,803 liters of oily water mixture and 65 sacks of oil-contaminated materials.

For shoreline ops, the PCG has collected 215 sacks of oil-contaminated materials resulting in 2,353 sacks and 22 drums of waste in 13 affected barangays.

Verde Island is part of the 1.4-million hectare Verde Island Passage (VIP), a body of water between Batangas and Mindoro that has the highest concentration of coastal fishes, corals, crustaceans, mollusks, seagrasses and mangroves. Its rich marine biodiversity is home to over 300 coral species, underwater rock canyons, reef formations and 60 percent of known shore fish species in the world.

Satellite mapping

The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) has mapped out the possible extent of the oil spill by using satellite maps from the International Charter Space and Major Disasters and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

In their updated maps of the extent of the oil spill, PhilSA said the oil slicks were approximately 16.02 nautical miles in length and about 0.35 nautical miles at the widest, placing the total coverage of the oil spill at approximately 9.87 square kilometers.

“These maps are still subject to field validation. These two maps from NOAA exhibit the possible, yet unconfirmed, oil off the coast of Pola, Mindoro Island as seen from RCM1 and Sentinel 1A imagery taken on 19 March 2023,” PhilSA said.

“In the RCM1 imagery, the oil was segmented and extended a total of 13 nautical miles towards the southwest of the vessel point source, and is 1 nautical mile at its widest point closer to the shore of Mindoro near Lake Naujan; it covers approximately 11.62 square kilometers,” PhilSA said.

“In the Sentinel 1A imagery, the oil was separated into three different areas south and southwest of the sunken tanker location. The slicks are approximately 16.02 nautical miles in total length and about 0.35 nautical miles at the widest; it covers a total of approximately 9.87 square kilometers,” PhilSA said.

The NOAA is a US federal agency focused on the condition of the oceans and the atmosphere.

Oil slick

Meanwhile, environmental group Greenpeace Philippines said the oil slick from the sunken MT Princess Empress has affected at least 984,238 hectares of municipal waters covering 10 coastal towns of Oriental Mindoro, two in Palawan and one in Antique.

At a press conference, Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Jefferson Chua cited the data gathered by Oceana’s Karagatan Patrol which showed that the oil spill reached Bansud, Bongabong, Bulalacao, Calapan, Gloria, Mansalay, Naujan, Pinamalayan, Pola and Roxas in Oriental Mindoro; Caluya in Antique and Agutaya and Taytay in Palawan. –Bella Cariaso, Rainier Allan Ronda, Arnell Ozaeta, Sheila Crisostomo