Australian maritime authorities are investigating an oil slick, spotted by local fishermen on Friday in the vicinity of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO-protected site.
The spill was reported to be 800m in diameter, located some 18 nautical miles north-northeast of Cape Upstart, that has broken up into small oily patches over the weekend.
“There are 14 ships that we consider are possible sources of oil and we plan to take oil samples from all of those ships,” Patrick Quirk, general manager of Maritime Services Queensland, is quoted as saying by the Brisbane Times.
According to Quirk, samples from five ships have already been taken and are about to be compared with those from the spill, with taking of samples from the remaining ships about to ensue.
As informed, a water police vessel and an emergency helicopter have been dispatched to the scene.
World Maritime News has not yet received a reply on the ongoing operations regarding the investigation from Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
The incident comes in less than a month from UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s decision not to list the Great Barrier Reef as “in danger”, praising instead Australia on its conservation plan.
However, the Committee said that the reef is still at risk, giving the country five years to halt deterioration of the world’s largest coral reef.
Environmental groups, including Greenpeace, believe that until the threat of massive coal mine and port expansions from the area are removed the reef faces ever greater risk of pollution, including that from oil spills as more ships are expected to ply these waters.
World Maritime News Staff