The greatest environmental disaster in Sri Lankan history unfolded a few weeks ago.
The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl cargo ship, carrying 25 tonnes of nitric acid along with other chemicals and cosmetics, caught fire along our nation’s coast on 20 May due to the negligence of the crew, recent investigations have revealed.
Many of the ship's 1,486 containers tumbled into the sea before the mammoth blaze was put out. The MV X-Press Pearl contained 278 tonnes of bunker fuel oil, 50 tonnes of gas oil, and about 20 containers of lubricating oil.
The true extent of damage of the disaster is the stuff of nightmares. The butterfly effect it continues to have and will have on future industries, communities, and our ecosystem is at debilitating apocalyptic proportions.
The contamination and chemical leaks, fires, oil spill coating our tourist-loved beaches, the explosions at the time, the destroyed marine biodiversity and myriad of dead oceanic life washing ashore have all culminated in an unprecedented calamity and colossal biological ruination.
It’s a real-time nightmare...Except we are all awake.
Make no mistake folks, we will suffer the long-term impacts of the MV X-Press-Pearl tragedy for generations to come.
Let that sink in.
Flames doused, but problems just sparked
While the immediate initial impacts were seen to, with the outward disaster seemingly averted, like most things, us Lankans have very short selective attention spans and consciences to match – we tend to easily forget significant things in time. The magnitude of this incident will dissipate, and with it, the media hype surrounding this calamity will also periodically subside.
But what of the long term repercussions and effects to the ecosystems and our marine life? To the affiliated communities and livelihoods?
Britta Denise Hardesty of Australia’s CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere said that wastes, toxins, and plastics don’t adhere to geographical boundaries, and will be carried by wind, waves, and currents, which change seasonally.
Let us not be remiss of the hundreds of tonnes of engine fuel sealed in the sunken hull of the ship; if it were to leak, the remaining marine wildlife will be obliterated.
The social damage
The incomprehensible damage to livelihoods and lives is massive. It’s a no-brainer to state that fishing is the central source of income for many communities in our island.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the fisheries sector of Sri Lanka consists of three main subsectors: coastal; deep sea and offshore; and aquaculture and inland. These three subsectors employ approximately 250,000 active fishers and another 100,000 in support services. The overall workforce represents a population of one million people. These are not small, insignificant figures.
The environmental damage
The fish bred in the coral reefs have suffered due to the pollutants and contamination, with their breeding grounds now destroyed.
The chemical contamination comprises nitric acid, sodium dioxide, lead, and copper, leaking into the ocean and being consumed by marine life.
The contamination also resulted in fishing being banned in a large radius of the wreck. This has not only stifled the revenue and income of the said communities, but also affected their dietary means of survival.
To add insult to injury, the temperamental climatic shifts caused heavy rains and severe flooding that have further devastated low-lying communities islandwide.
Findings suggest that over 3 billion nurdles of plastic have leaked into our coastline and oceans. Let us not frolic with delusion – even with a plethora of clean-up efforts, these raw materials of plastic products will remain mixed with coral beds and our shores for aeons to come.
BBC reported on 9 June that the plastic can take between 500-1,000 years to decompose and is likely to be carried by ocean currents to shores all around Sri Lanka and even to beaches hundreds of kilometres away from the shipwreck.
The issue of fossil-based fuel industries and their profit-driven agendas that impact the environment is a narrative that’s often in the limelight, but also never truly addressed with any adequate solutions. The repercussions of the pollutants caused by fossil-fuel based industries is immense. However, few strides have been made to successfully boycott or hold accountable those corporations that manufacture single-use plastic materials. Which means nations must utilise a more systematic, meticulous, sustainable, circular economy with candour and conviction towards safeguarding marine biodiversity and ecosystems.
The economic damage
Sri Lanka is a pristine seafood and fish exporter. We are leading suppliers of yellowfin and bigeye tuna, crabs, prawns, and molluscs species to international markets, according to the Export Development Board.
Our exports will be hit heavily due to this crisis.
The fisheries communities are large and dependent on the industry, not just professionally but personally as well.
It isn’t only the fishing industry and the communities therein, but many related industries that are devastated.
We need to consider that industries directly linked to fishing like boat builders and manufacturers, providers of fishing nets and oil, those who push and haul the boats, and the multitudes of wholesale and retail sellers, are all affected.
Sri Lanka is a reputed and renowned world class beach destination. For one thing the hotel industry suffered crucial damages to its coastal belt. And while many a hotel industry head claims the damage would have been more grievous had the industry been in operation and in full swing (inferring the travel bans due to the Covid situation), it is like a person cutting off their own nose to spite their face – meaning this is top-notch corporate baloney and taradiddle to inspire optimism in dire times while pretending the elephantine fish flopping in their lap isn’t dying.
Then the terrible impacts of this disaster on tourism is paramount, a vital industry to our economy that already is in peril and paralysis following the pandemic and sporadic lockdowns, which will further suffer incomprehensible blows due to this cataclysm. A large part of what makes Sri Lanka such a great tourist destination is its water sports, wildlife, tropical climate, and abundance of beaches.
Unspoken heroes
Kudos to the Sri Lankan Navy and the Marine Environmental Protection Authority in their efforts to clean up following the disaster. Our Air force and Navy along with the local port authority were instrumental in attempting to control the situation.
India deployed a Dornier aircraft and a myriad of vessels to aid in the rescue operations.
Salvage crews and operations were underway led by SMIT (the Dutch company) to douse the fires.
The 25-member crew were evacuated which included Filipino, Indian, Chinese, and Russian nationals.
‘What is dead may never die’
Not to downplay the X Press Pearl disaster in any way, but as usual, the blame game of casting aspersions and pointing fingers has exacerbated, while the scavengers wetting their beaks to profit from the calamity are doing so without either a blink of an eye or a drop of sweat on their brows.
BBC reported on 2 June that the ship’s owners had claimed its crew had been aware of the leak, and while denied by India and Qatar, were allowed to enter our waters.
While salvage and clean-up efforts are at hand, with firms specialising in disaster management being commissioned to the crisis, and all those bloodthirsty hounds baying, snarling, and snapping at the heels of this devastation...
We need to draw some perspective on separating the milquetoast keyboard warriors and bravado-embellishing cause-seekers from the actual victims and conscientious protestors directly impacted by the disaster, as it has crippled their respective trades, occupations, and livelihoods.
As in most Lankan cases, many are the ticks and leeches latching onto the scabs and scars of this tragedy.
By that, I mean the X Press Pearl cataclysm has opened up many eyes previously clouded by the consistent and previous pollution of our seas and beaches.
Last September we witnessed a similar occurrence when the MT New Diamond leaked oil into the sea, but was quickly contained. Our authorities filed charges against the captain and a claim of $ 2.4 million from the ship’s owners for the pollution prevention and fire fighting efforts. Ironically that incident was said to be an “eye opener”, emphasising the need for us to be prepared to deal with similar tragedies and spillage, considering that a plethora of ships traverse our waters carrying oil from the Persian Gulf to East Asia.
Not prepared
Let’s not mince words here. Our beaches, despite being a magnificent tourist attraction, have faced pollution to the waters and the beaches of the Western and Southern coasts for some time now. There are parties that have invested ascertaining noteworthy and laudable clean-up measures, but let’s face it – no actual sustainable effort has been made by larger conglomerates and administration even prior to this, to safeguard our ecosystems and marine life.
While we ride this better late than never wave, using this tragedy to seek out opportunity might be momentarily logical, but in the long-term?
The oceans and marine life play a quintessential role in Sri Lanka’s social and economic sectors.
They say it takes death, demise, and destruction to bring people together. Well then, we should stop waiting in the sidelines watching our paradise crumbling apart and each of us start doing our part as responsible and diligent citizens, and not just reactive and responsive denizens.
Poseidon has no tears left to spill.
Suresh de Silva is the frontman and lyricist of Stigmata, a creative consultant and brand strategist by profession, a self-published author and poet, thespian, animal rescuer, podcaster, and fitness enthusiast.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.