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This is not the first time a disaster like this has occurred. But unless action is taken it won't be the last.
words by Zac Sharpe
The newspaper headlines described the oil slicks which desecrated the Gulf as a marine disaster, a major threat to the fishing industry and an inexcusable catastrophe.
The clean-up operations on the other hand were labelled ineffective, disjointed and lacking in urgency.
The year was 1994 and the Panamanian registered oil tanker, the Seki, and a UAE vessel, the Baynunah, had just collided off the east coast resort and fishing emirate of Fujairah. The 9,000 tonnes of crude oil lost was the biggest individual oil spill in the Emirate's waters and irrevocably affected the region's fishing industry.
Almost four years later, January 1998, and the typesetters in the sub-editing rooms of the Gulf's newspapers were again conjuring the same adjectives to describe yet another oil spill and the subsequent efforts to clean it up.
While the authorities responsible for protecting the region's waters deliberated on ways to monitor and protect the marine environment another potentially more disturbing fact has surfaced.
Some 10,000 barrels of oil are spilled into the Gulf every day, according to a German company's research. Added to the tonnes of toxic ballast water emptied from the bilges of scores of ships daily and the magnitude of the problem confronting the Gulf's waterways are obvious.
Today a stroll along the once pristine beaches and estuaries of Umm Al Quwain still offers evidence of the damage caused by the latest oil spill disaster to occur in UAE waters.
More than 30 kilometres of coastline were flooded with medium fuel oil when an Iranian barge illegally carrying 4,000 tonnes of the oil sunk in rough seas five kilometres offshore.
Strong winds carried the illicit cargo onto beaches in Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah, turning the surf the colour of chocolate milk and covering a vast section of the coastline in a five centimetre deep black sludge.
Foot print sized black stains still litter the upper reaches of the popular beach more than two months after the incident.
An experimental mangrove plantation which had been cultivated on the beach front for ten years by the UAQ Marine Resources Research Centre (MRRC) was all but destroyed when the oil, carried on unusually high tides, spilled into the canals which were home to the millions of fish larvae supported by the mangroves.
Despite the threat the sinking of the Iranian barge posed to the local economy, a major clean-up bid was not launched by the authorities until reports indicated the spill was spreading west towards the emirates of Ajman, Sharjah and Dubai.
Booms were employed to restrict the spill's progress west and about 120 labourers assigned to scour oil from the beaches, but the islands were left largely untouched and fishing villages were neglected.
In a country founded on oil and reliant on the substance ever since, the idea that a co-ordinated strategy to deal with a major spill was not in place came as a surprise to many, especially those worst affected.
MRRC director Mohammed Al Zarouni said the organisational effort was fragmented, with the meetings taking place between the Federal Environmental Authority (FEA), the Coast Guard, the affected municipalities, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Interior bearing much rhetoric but little fruit.
"There needed to be greater involvement between private and government agencies and a volunteer campaign to clean up the beach and mangroves could have been put into place weeks before it actually was," said Al Zarouni in reference to the public clean-up day which was eventually approved and given 24 hours radio publicity.
The UAQ's ground breaking kilometre-long mangrove research project was "set back about fifteen years".
"Situations like this are reliant on manpower to perform a succesful clean-up and this manpower was deployed in too small numbers and too slowly," said Al Zarouni.
The lack of resources available to the FEA and other interests was never more evident than in the basic fishing villages dotting the coast of Umm Al Quwain.
For most of the country oil is the lifeblood of the economy. But too often this precious commodity has spelt disaster for the fishermen who ply their trade from these small harbours in their single engined wooden dinghies.
Days after the latest spill, mostly elderly fishermen watched in apparent resignation as their outboard motors and nets sat ruined in a thick tar.
As they sat pondering the disastrous end to a peak fishing season which had barely begun, a single pump was noisily but ineffectually sucking at the oil lapping at the rocky shore. It resembled an elephant trying to drink dry an entire harbour.
When asked if further back-up was to be summoned, one exasperated American co-ordinator said, "What are you talking about, it took four days just to get this one here."
"These sort of problems are going to keep happening as long as these illegal and unseaworthy barges continue to bring oil into the Emirates. A more rapid emergency response procedure also needs to be put in place," said the private company co-ordinator.
While many would liken the delivery of oil to the Emirates to importing sand to Saudi Arabia, there are those who profit from bringing unrefined fuel oil into Ajman and the northern Emirates and converting it into kerosene, turpentine and other low grade petrol products.
The offending vessels are single-hulled barges which differ little from floating shoe boxes in design, but weigh about 10,000 tonnes. They are designed to carry shipping containers and products such as white goods or machinery. The 12 tanks in the barge are supposed to be used for ballast but the profiteers simply fill them with oil instead.
International shipping law prohibits the transport of oil in single-hulled vessels but enforcement of this law in Gulf waters has been haphazard at best.
Much of the oil is smuggled out of Iraq in breach of United Nations sanctions against that country's imposed oil exportation quota. After travelling down the coast of Iran to avoid detection by US inspection teams, the barges make the treacherous journey across the Arabian Gulf to the UAE.
A member of the team which last month refloated the stricken vessel described the end result as "almost inevitable".
"Once you tow these things into heavy seas you have 5,000 tonnes of oil swishing from one side of the barge to the other. The tank lids are not closed properly and water seeps in making the vessel submerge partially. From there more and more water gets in and the domino effect continues until the barge goes under," said Siraj Al Ali, managing director of White Sea Shipping.
The unscrupulous nature of the smugglers was made obvious when, days after the January spill, another almost identical vessel was found following the trail of the massive slick in order to avoid the detection of its own oil leak.
Crews involved in high profile incidents such as the Seki - Baynunah collision of 1994 invariably receive fines under existing laws regarding transportation of oil. In their case the captains of the respective ships were fined Dhs 10,000 each. The Sharjah criminal system also dealt out fines to the crew on the latest sunken barge.
But the severity of the fines has proven ineffective in deterring these illegal traders who continue to pose a major threat to the tourism and fishing industries, water resources and the general welfare of the marine environment.
It is not, however, just the profit pirates who undermine the general efforts to keep the Gulf clean. Recreational divers who recently returned to Dubai from the east coast were appalled to discover the water spoiled by oil deposits and rubbish cast off from shipping traffic.
Taking a respite from a diving excursion near Khor Fakkan the two Sharjah residents opted for a nearby beach to land their boat.
"From a distance it looked alright but once we got nearer there was an acrid stench in the air," said Burt Andrew of Sharjah.
"Aside from typical rubbish and flotsam jetsam, there were these black tar-like, rolled up clumps which looked very much as if they had been scraped off the side of a ship.
"This is just negligent dumping without any respect for the environment," said Andrew. "I've dived around the world and in a spot like Khor Fakkan there should be more marine life."
A spokesman for the Marine Department at the Fujairah Seaport told Al Shindagah that fish stocks off the coast were threatened by the discharge of oily wastes laden with toxic heavy metals.
"The ships waiting in anchorage off Fujairah port are not the culprits. Regular inspections see to it that these ships do not dump their ballast in the sea," the senior official said.
"It is the big tankers passing between Oman and the Gulf which cause the most problems because they off load their liquid and solid waste out at sea in Fujairah's territorial waters, despite international and local conventions against this practice."
"The waste then becomes part of the food chain which affects fish and is eventually washed up on the beach, which is unpleasant for everyone. To stop this happening Gulf states should pool their resources and set up an organisation to combat marine pollution and penalise offenders more severely," he said.
The Fujairah Seaport authorities do send regular inspection teams to check on ships in port and those anchored outside. But the searches are limited to 13 kilometres offshore.
Another government organisation, the Marine Polution Control Committee, also plays a role in guarding the east coast. Its jurisdiction encompasses a 70 kilometre stretch, including the depleted waters of popular east coast dive spots such as Shark Island and Snoopy Rock.
Fairdeal Marine Environment Protection and Safety, a private company, started business in Fujairah 13 years ago clearing the sea of oil spills and debris.
"We receive vessels' slops and treat them by separating water from the oil which is recycled and refined for further use. The clean water is then discharged in accordance with regulations," said Mohamed Sageer of the company's technical department.
If a repeat of history is to be avoided the authorities will have to act soon. Otherwise reporters will be sent scurrying to the thesaurus again, in search of alternative headlines for over-used adjectives like fiasco, disorganised and disaster.
If further spills are to be prevented, a proper plan of action must be put into effect. Fairdeal Marine Environment Protection and Safety have 13 years experience in dealing with oil spills. They suggest that:
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This beach in Umm Al Quwain used to have blue waters and golden sands. It is now covered in a thick layer of oil sludge, caused by the sinking of an Iranian barge that was illegally carrying a load of medium fuel oil.
Within a week of the beaches being made to resemble asphalt car parks, the spill lapped up onto the shores of the six islands nestled in the Emirate's complex estuary system. The delicate ecology and popular tourist attraction was the home and breeding ground for flamingos, herons, gulls and assorted migratory birds as well as a feeding area for small fish.