Over the past few days the island of Mauritius located in the Indian Ocean has seen some of its largest protests in several years; an estimated 150,000 people, or 12% of the islands population, have gathered in the nation’s capital, Port Louis, in protest the government’s response to a massive oil spill along a stretch of the island’s coastline. Many have criticized the government’s lack of initial response when the guilty cargo ship first began to approach the island, in addition to the ‘diluted information’ released to the public surrounding this event. There are also calls for an independent investigation to be carried out into the deaths of some 40 dolphins which washed up on shores near the sight of the spill. Though autopsies carried out on two of the animals have concluded there were no traces of hydrocarbons on the bodies, many find this hard to believe.
This began when on the 25th of July a Japanese-owned cargo ship, ‘The MV Wakashio’, got stuck on a coral reef after changing course to run along the shallow waters near Mauritius. Furthermore, in early August the ship was split in two, causing it to release 1,000 tonnes of its cargo of fuel along 15km of the coastline. The captain of the ship has been arrested and charged with endangering safe navigation for changing the ship’s course. The back half of the ship has remained in the coral reef near to where the spill occurred, whilst the front half has been deliberately sunk as a method of disposal - though this has caused further controversy and anger at government officials for disturbing local wildlife even more.
Local environmental activists have stated that the spill has destroyed over 35 years of work to reintroduce endangered species to the area. Though many of the aforementioned plants and animals were moved to the mainland for their protection, inevitable catastrophic damage has still been done to the local ecosystems. Scientists have commented that the impact of the spill could affect the island’s environment, as well as the livelihoods of many of its citizens for decades to come.
Written by Emily Jenkins
Artwork by Aurora Brooks
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