Coast Guard: Aerial inspection shows Verde Island, vicinity waters 'no longer have' traces of oil
MANILA, Philippines — An aerial inspection of the Philippine Coast Guard on Monday afternoon showed that Verde Island and vicinity waters “no longer have traces” of oil spill, hours after local PCG reported that oil sheen was seen in the area in its shoreline operations.
The PCG said it conducted an aerial inspection, as part of its offshore operations, over Verde Island on Monday afternoon. “During the aerial inspection from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., the PCG confirmed that Verde Island and its vicinity waters no longer have traces of oil,” it said in a statement.
This was just hours after PCG-Batangas station commander Captain Victorino Acosta said in an interview with Super Radyo dzBB that they observed “oil sheens” in the waters of Verde Island in the province.
In the afternoon, the PCG said traces of oil spill was monitored in the coastal barangays of San Antonio, San Agustin and San Agapito in Isla Verde.
The Coast Guard explained that shoreline operations, which its Batangas arm conducted, are part of clean-up operations. Meanwhile, the agency also conducts offshore operations in vicinity waters where PCG vessels and tugboats are located.
The PCG did not explain the primacy of the two operations it conducts over the other.
“They collected approximately 230 liters of oil during the shoreline clean-up operations today,” Coast Guard Rear Admiral Armand Balilo, agency spokesperson, said.
In an update, the PCG said that it recorded 6,803 liters of oily water mixture and 65 sacks of oil-contaminated materials collected during its offshore oil spill response operations.
“For shoreline response, the PCG collected 215 sacks of oil-contaminated materials on 20 March 2023, resulting in 2,353 sacks and 22 drums of waste collected at 13 affected barangays in Naujan, Bulalacao, and Pola, Oriental Mindoro, from 1 to 20 March 2023,” it added.
Oil spill threatens marine corridor
A recent trajectory model by the University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute projected that most of the oil from the sunken tanker in Oriental Mindoro will reach and concentrate in Calapan City this week.
It explained that the northeast monsoon (amihan) winds, which contained most of the oil to the coasts of Naujan and Pola, are now more variable, allowing the oil to spread northwards.
Verde Island Passage — which is surrounded by the provinces of Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Batangas, Romblon and Marinduque — is considered by scientists as the center of the world’s marine biodiversity.
It is home to 1,700 fish species, 300 coral species and 36 marine protected areas. Two million people, including fishermen and tourism workers, also depend on VIP’s rich marine resources. — Kristine Joy Patag with reports from Gaea Katreena Cabico
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