Lake Maracaibo: Polluted by a permanent black tide
SMELLING like an oil refiner y, t he vast expanse of Lake Maracaibo has become polluted by its own reser ves of c r ude a s Venez uela’s economic collapse has left wells and pipelines in ruin.
This huge body of water, in the countr y’s northwest, covers 13,200sq km and empties into t he Caribbean, but it is covered by what loca ls ca ll a “permanent black tide.”
It’s a hazard not just to the lake’s fauna and flora, but also to the livelihoods of the people who rely on its wildlife.
Fisher man Giova nny Vi llarrea l says much of his daily catch goes to waste.
“Half of our catch reeks of oi l. A s no-one buys it, we t hrow it back into t he water,” he said, display ing a basket of crabs.
His home in Cabimas on the lake’s eastern shore is built on sti lts to guard against f loodi ng, but t he fa mi ly su f fer s from other problems.
“Sometimes we can’t sleep for the smell of gas produced by t he oi l,” said Vil la rrea l.
“It gets into our lungs, especia lly t he children.”
The pollution is v isible ever y where. The water is f luorescent g reen while t he shores a re dot ted wit h t hick black gunk.
High up i n a pa l m t ree, a bird haplessly t r ies to clea n its wings of st ick y oi l.
“Look, thanks to the souther n wind, t here’s oi l ever ywhere,” sa id Pau l, a f isherman neighbor of Villarrea l’s who decl i ned to g i ve h i s surname.
His boat’s hull is covered with a coat of oil while his fishing nets have turned black.
“When we go out fishing, we come back stained by oil,” he sa id. “What makes it even worse for our health is that we wash wit h pet rol to remove t he oi l.”
Ironica l ly, t he oi l t hat sits deep underg round beneat h t he la ke is how Maraca ibo, Venezuela’s second cit y, and t he surrounding a rea made its fortune.
“They’ve been ex t ract i ng oil from beneath t his la ke for 100 yea rs,” sa id economist Orla ndo Ochoa, a specia list in t he oil sector.
Things have changed over t he last decade, t hough, as Venezuela has descended into economic crisis.
‘No one listens to us’
Venezuela’s oil production stood at 3.2 million barrels a day 10 years ago, it’s now down to less than one million.
The oil price crash of 2008 hit the sector hard, as have US sanctions and a lack of infrastructure investment.
La ke Maracaibo has been badly af fected.
“We’re produci ng 160,000 barrels a day, t hat’s a si xt h of t he production from just si x years ago,” said Ochoa.
State oi l company PDVSA cannot afford to maintain the t housa nds of k i lomet res of under water cables and pipel i nes, a nd Ochoa says “t he i nf rast r uct ure is deg radi ng and pollution increasing”.
PDVSA does not publish figu res on t he a mount of oi l lea k ing into Lake Maracaibo and didn’t respond to questions on t he subject.
Yurasi Briceno, a biolog ist a t Ve ne z ue l a’s s c i e nt i f i c research institute, is studying fauna in the northern part of t he la ke.
“There are eight wells, three of which have been permanent ly lea k i ng oi l si nce la st October,” she said.
Br ic e no s a y s s he of t e n comes across dolphins a nd manatees w it h i nju r ies on t heir sk in from oil.
“We humans are at the end of t he food chain. By eating crabs or praw ns f rom t he la ke, we’re a lso poisoned,” she said.
Vi l la r rea l is f ur ious. He’s been telling t he oil industr y and the env ironment minist r y for 10 yea r s about t he problems.
But he says, “no one listens to us”.