Dead dolphins found near site of oil spill
There is so much sadness
Hello and welcome to this issue of our newsletter. Every week, Ariel and Khalil, writers based in Mauritius, investigate the impact the oil spill is having on the country and its people, politics and nature.
I went to the beach, had my morning swim, and then I cried. Nothing could have prepared me for the pictures I'd seen a few hours earlier. Dolphins. Dead. Many of them. Washed onto the shores of Mauritius.
But I wasn’t crying just because of the dolphins. No, the pain was deeper.
In this issue
Did the oil spill kill the dolphins?
Explosive investigation into potential failures of the government
Massive protest demonstration happening this weekend
Majestic and free. Source: Cyril di Bisceglie/wikimedia commons
When tourists think of Mauritius, they think of beaches. But us Mauritians, we grew up talking about la mer, or the sea. Beaches are nice but the sea is what we see from the rooftops of houses and when we close our eyes when we’re abroad. It’s what we feel when we eat the fish on our plates and when we see the blue of our flag.
The sea is what created us. Without it, there is no island, there is no Mauritius, there is no us. We exist because the sea surrounds us. We exist because of the sea. This is where our attachment to the sea starts. It is our beginnings. It is our home.
So, when we see oil spill into the sea and destroy it, we are destroyed too. When we see life in the sea suffocate and die, we die too.
The number of dead dolphins kept going up throughout the day. From five to seven, and to thirteen by midday. By the evening, it was eighteen. It is midnight as I’m typing this and I’m still crying.
What you need to know about the dead dolphins
18 dolphins were found stranded on the eastern shores of Mauritius, from Grand Sable to Pointe aux Feuilles, on Wednesday morning, fewer than 10 kilometres from the site where MV Wakashio ran aground before it spilled around 1,000 tonnes of oil.
Are the strandings linked to the oil spill? Everyone from the region I spoke to says they are linked. But the minister of fisheries, Sudheer Maudhoo, says they are not linked.
Wait, why is the minister saying they aren't linked? Preliminary results from two necropsies show no oil in the dolphins’ stomachs, according to the authorities. I know what you’re thinking: those are merely preliminary results; and the authorities can’t be trusted anyway. You’re right on both counts. The results were from just two of the 18 dolphins. And toxicology and DNA analyses, which are way more sensitive than the human eye, haven’t been done yet. Also, yes, authorities cannot be trusted, especially when results appear to suit their agenda. Authorities have been relentlessly trying to downplay the potential impact of the oil spill on marine life so any evidence of the contrary would be calamitous for them.
So, the minister is in denial, right? He may well be. But to be honest, it is too early to say whether there is or isn’t a link between the strandings and the oil spill. We really need to wait for the post-mortem scientific report to know for sure. One more thing: we can’t trust authorities but we can trust the scientific report whenever it comes out because scientists from respected conservation NGOs (such as the Mauritius Marine Conservation Society) are involved in the post-mortem.
Can it get any worse? I’m afraid so. The stranded individuals were electra dolphins, more commonly known as melon-headed whales (just to be clear they are dolphins, not whales), and they typically live in groups of hundreds. It is not impossible that more dolphins from this particular group have died or, god forbid, will die and wash ashore.
The latest
⚫ Mauritian authorities could have done better, but didn’t
An explosive piece of investigative journalism by Top TV Mauritius shows that Mauritian authorities had oil booms, skimmers and other resources but did not use them when MV Wakashio ran aground. You can watch the 20-minute video here (in French).
More: An independent public investigation into the Mauritian government’s response to the oil spill disaster should be called, says Christian Bueger, a marine security professor at the University of Copenhagen.
⚫ Citizens arrested without warrants
The police arrested two brothers, Jonathan and Josué Dardenne, on Saturday in relation to an alleged incident in Mahébourg involving the brothers and a supporter of the MSM, the party in government. The police prevented Jonathan and Josué from seeing their lawyers for several hours following their arrest. They spent the night in jail. The police later conceded that it had arrested the brothers without warrants. The brothers deny all charges. tldr: police state.
More: Video of the alleged incident – or how rowdy dude gets what’s coming to him by the good people of Mahébourg.
⚫ Protest demonstration this Saturday could be massive
Organised by Bruno Laurette, a social activist, the demonstration will be held in the capital city of Port Louis. Tens of thousands are expected to turn up to show their discontent with the government and demand that it “lev pake ale” (“get the f— out”). Yours truly will be there. Sister demonstrations are also being organised in countries all over by the Mauritian diaspora.
More: “History is ours and the people make it.”
That’s it for this week. Thank you for allowing us in your inbox. Click on the heart icon right at the very top if you want Substack (they host the newsletter) to suggest us to more people. And if you are able to help Mauritius recover from this oil spill, Ariel has you covered here. Thanks again – Khalil.
P.S. this made me smile so sharing it here.
It would be absolutely remarkable if the oil spill had nothing to do with this new tragedy. What does the government think it could gain by denying the obvious apart from being mocked by the population?