Work on a plan for dealing with oil spills and marine pollution off the coast of the Emirates is not progressing as fast as initially planned but will be complete early next year, a senior government official says. An agreement between the Ministry of Environment and the Regional Clean Sea Organisation (Recso), designed to address the effectiveness of responses to oil spills, was due to have been signed in May this year.
However, Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, the Minister of Environment and Water, said yesterday that the document was to be signed in the first quarter of 2009. The decision to work on the agreement was taken in the light of public concern that efforts to deal with oil spills in Gulf waters were too slow and ineffective. Mr Fahad said a round of formal discussions had already been held with Recso. Marine pollution is a serious environmental challenge to the country, with Fujairah and other areas on the east coast the worst affected.
Since the beginning of the year, there has been a spill almost every month, but the true extent of the problem is difficult to assess because currents do not always bring the oil to shore. Mr Fahad said the delay should not be a cause for concern. "The memorandum is in its final stage to be signed," he said. "It is an important issue for us." The plan will be discussed during Offshore Arabia, an oil industry event in January, which will also attract representatives from bodies such as Opec, the UN and the International Maritime Organisation.
However, once the management plan was drafted and agreed, it could take up to 18 months to implement, said Khamis Bu Amim, the chairman of Recso. No further details were available yesterday but in May, when the initiative was announced, Mr Amim said it would require bases to be set up along the UAE coastline and manned by emergency response teams. When not responding to a crisis, he said, staff from the bases "will clean harbours and lagoons because contamination is ongoing and they will have preventive responsibilities".
While oil slicks have long been common on the east coast, hotel and leisure operators are saying that this year could be the worst yet. After a spill in February, hoteliers employed private contractors to get rid of the pollution. The Fujairah Rotana Resort & Spa was faced with a Dh40,000 bill to rid its beach of oil and tar. The Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort also hired a private company. In March, another spill reached two of Fujairah's most important coral reef areas - Dibba Rock, a marine protected area, and Shark Island. Days later, pollution reached the Qidfa water desalination plant.
There were two incidents in June. One, which hit Fujairah's beaches at the beginning of the month, was described by people living in the area as one of the biggest to affect the area in recent years. Most of the pollution is believed to be caused by oil tankers cutting corners by cleaning their tanks and illegally dumping the toxic water into the sea. Many of the ships are on their way to Fujairah's oil bunkering port, one of the biggest facilities of its kind in the world. Sixty per cent of all vessels entering the Gulf stop for bunkering, repair and crew changes at the port.
From this month, the Gulf became a special area under the terms of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. This means the governments of Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - the states bordering the new special area - must have methods in place to prevent pollution of the sea by oil and rubbish. However, as previously reported in The National, sources from both the industry and Government say enforcement of the rules is lax.
"There is control but it is not enough," said a government official who requested anonymity. "We have no patrol boats looking for any spill." Round-the-clock monitoring by a task force of boats and helicopters was necessary, he said. @Email:vtodorova@thenational.ae
