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.
Summer officially starts tomorrow, on November 1st. And in Mauritius, we’re wondering where to go swimming post-Wakashio.
I’d originally set my sights on Palmar this weekend. Palmar’s one of my favourite beaches: the ocean’s a miraculous, jewel-hued blue, and the beach hasn’t been too affected by erosion. Before heading out there, I thought I’d better check the government’s safety guidelines when it comes to swimming in the east coast.
I ended up cancelling my beach plans for the weekend. Why?
I couldn’t find any safety guidelines whatseover.
Palmar. Photo by me, taken early last year.
Though fishing in specific areas around the east coast is banned, and thousands of animals have been found dead, there hasn’t been an official announcement on the safety of our lagoons for swimming. According to this article in Defimedia, swimming is banned in south-eastern lagoons. I’ve heard of people bathing in Blue Bay and Pointe d’Esny recently, though. I wonder just how this ban is being enforced. There’s no communiqué on the matter on the government website.
The Defimedia piece also states that there are no traces of hydrocarbons in the Pointe d’Esny lagoon, but we don’t know when this hydrocarbon test was carried out, and if it was done by a rigorous, independent scientific body. The Wakashio disaster has so far been marked by the near-total absence of thorough testing that would determine the toxicity of the oil spilled in our lagoon and the extent of the damage. If tests have in fact been conducted, then why haven’t the results been published?
Water travels.
Just because there’s no visible oil on the surface of the sea doesn’t mean that oil and other toxins aren’t present. It’s also worth restating, for the record, that we still don’t know exactly how much oil leaked from the ship.
The most recent toxicity test listed on the government website was conducted on the 14th-15th of August, and published on the 8th of September (?!). It states that fish from Blue Bay to Palmar were unfit for human consumption.
I don’t know why these results were published so late, why the number of fish analysed was so small, and why there seemingly haven’t been any follow-up tests across the island.
In this issue
Secret scuttle location found
Captain and Chief Officer in court, mystery continues
International records on the MV Wakashio are being altered
The latest
⚫ Debris from the wreck could be heading to Reunion Island
The location of the Wakashio’s scuttling was a secret until October 23rd, when Nishan Degnarain published an explosive piece for Forbes. Using maritime analytics, Degnarain has determined that the ship was sunk off the east coast of Mauritius. He also warns that sea currents may now carry the debris to Reunion. The wreck may also affect the super fragile ecosystem of Blue Bay, in Mauritius, too.
Degnarain also suggests that something went really wrong during the scuttling because the final resting place of the Wakashio was not the spot initially chosen. Was the new location also one that was agreed upon with French officials?
Dr. Roland Troadec, a French expert in ocean currents, disagrees with the conclusions drawn by Forbes. In Reunion Island's Quotidien newspaper, he states that the ship’s ore tanks were cleaned and that the ship was sunk deep into the sea, which safeguards Reunion from any would-be toxins carried by the currents.
More: Read the Forbes piece here and Troadec’s response here.
⚫ Wakashio captain goes to court
The Captain and Chief Officer of the Wakashio are calling for their provisional charges to be struck out in court. They’re both responding to a provisional charge of “unlawful interference with the operation of a property of a ship likely to endanger its safe navigation”.
ICYMI, the Captain’s lawyer was dropped from the case in early September. His former lawyer said ‘occult forces’ had pressured the Captain to do so.
Meanwhile, Forbes reports that the Wakashio could have been hacked right before it crashed, which could explain why it was off course for four days without anyone being aware (supposedly). Forbes says that cyber-attacks against global shipping have spiked 400% since Covid-19 lockdowns.
More: Defimedia has the court details here. The two men are to appear in court again on November 3.
⚫ Are MV Wakashio’s records being altered?
In a disturbing piece published yesterday on Forbes, Degnarain writes that the digital records of the Wakashio are being mysteriously altered in databases around the world, months after the bulk carrier had been ruled a total constructive loss.
“Who would have reason to be altering digital records after a vessel has been declared a loss, and whilst a major investigation is going on?” he asks.
He goes on to say that Nagashiki Shipping have not responded to questions from the media since August 30, which is highly unusual behaviour for a company involved in an oil spill disaster. Meanwhile, 16 Japanese experts are due to arrive in Mauritius imminently to survey the pollution caused by the spill.
More: Read the Forbes article here.
That’s all from me this week! Hope you’re all well. – Ariel