Huge losses expected from burned Limburg [Archives:2002/42/Business & Economy]

The livelihood of thousands of fishermen is being threatened by the leak of crude oil caused by fire on the French oil tanker Limburg which blew up off the coast of Yemen last week.
The oil slick is having serious impact on fish and other marine life in the area, in addition to the nearby fishing industry. Preliminary information available at al-Shahar area confirms fish in the area have died in the oil-slicks.
More than 250 fishermen from Shahar area have also stopped fishing there.
The area is renowned for having large quantities of the highest quality kinds of fish in the world. Area fishing provides a living for more than 2,000 people. Their livelihoods are threatened by the oil slicks.
The environmental hazard is threatening the coast of Mukalla port, and the coast of Hadramaut. Such a threat would, however, threaten livelihoods of as many as 7,200 fishermen who fish in the broader area.
Yemen’s Minister of Tourism and Environment Abdulmalik al-Eryani has said the environmental impact of this incident is expected to be grave, both economically and socially.
Ecological consequences are expected to last for a long time of poor equipment used for probing the water damage and in cleaning it up, and wind movement which is causing the slick to spread.
Experts believe that the burning of the tanker off the Mukalla port threatens not only all marine life, but also birds. Vapors rising from the oil may be carried across the larger coastal area.
Experts warn that oil contains many poisons that may also cause cancers.
To avoid further disaster, crews are attempting to clean the shores by moving large quantities of sand, and dumping it far from shore.
Other water pollution can be confined with special equipment, shovels and sweepers. This equipment is not available in Yemen, so the country needs to get it quickly before it can do the clean-up.
The oil tanker incident has added an unexpected burden on the Yemeni state budget and the government’s development efforts. This is also putting pressure on to speedily deal with clean-up costs.

——
[archive-e:42-v:2002-y:2002-d:2002-10-14-p:./2002/iss42/b&e.htm]