Oil spill at Girgaum Chowpatty

MUMBAI: Large quantities of oil washed along one-and-a-half km stretch of Girgaum Chowpatty on Monday has raised fears of a spill in the Arabian sea off the city’s coast.

A city-based marine conservationist, Pradip Patade, filed a complaint with the solid waste management (Swm)department of the civic body to draw its attention to the damage the spill could cause on the marine ecosystem. “The coastline along the beach has turned black after the oil mixed with the sand. Also, there is a large amount of plastic strewn along the beach,” said Patade, who has documented over 250 marine species along the south Mumbai coastline. “The oil is toxic for big fish and also prevents the oxygen flow towards the seabed, which comprises algae, sponges and corals. There are high chances of marine mammals getting affected as well.”

Mumbai Port Trust (MBPT) officials said that the oil may have washed ashore owing to a spill or is being pumped out by larger ships moving near the Persian Gulf. “There have been instances in the past where oil sediments have been spotted along Juhu beach that are brought in by the clockwise current and wind direction from the deep sea,” said a senior officer from MBPT’S pollution abatement department. “We are currently investigating the matter with the Coast Guard.”

Officers from SWM department said, “These are confirmed traces of crude oil from larger ships offshore that have got deposited along the chowpatty due to tidal action. We have spoken to our disaster control department and will be chalking out a plan, along with the Coast Guard, to trace the source and remove the pollutants from the beach and the seabed,” said Ranjan Bagwe, assistant engineer, SWM.