Mauritius is reeling from a spreading oil spill !

On the evening of Saturday July 25, the MV (Wakashio grounded on tropical island of Mauritius.

Fuel oil began to leak into the expansive turquoise blue lagoon outside the coastal village of Mahébourg.

Fuel oil began to leak into the expansive turquoise blue lagoon outside the coastal village of Mahébourg.

The impacts seen closer up are gruesome. On August 7, nearly two weeks after the shipwreck, the government declared the incident a national emergency.

With at least 1,000 tons of fuel oil estimated to have already emptied into the lagoon, two ships moved alongside to transfer off remaining fuel in a race against time as the vessel threatened to shear into two.

Spills like this harm marine life because the chemicals that make up oil are toxic to plants and animals, including mangrove forests and the corals that build reefs.

The black and sticky heavy oils used to fuel ships are less toxic than light oils like diesel or petroleum, they persist longer and smother life in the sea and on the coasts. Ecological effects ripple across interconnected marine and land ecosystems.

The 22 hectares of mangrove that make up the Pointe D’Esny Wetlands are designated as a Ramsar site, a protected area for internationally important wetlands. The mangroves are home to species and habitats of conservation importance and to nurseries of fish supporting.

Along the coastal road to the south is Blue Bay Marine Park, another Ramsar site, with 353 hectares of coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and more mangroves. It is home to turtles, 72 species of fish, and an exceptional coral diversity of 38 species from 15 families.

Ile-aux-Aigrettes, opposite Pointe D’Esny, has the last remaining coastal ebony forest in Mauritius.

The coastal ebony species is one of 11 remaining endemic ebony species of Mauritius, a twelfth is believed extinct.

Local fishermen depend on the now oil-polluted lagoon for their livelihoods and local people depend on it for most of the fish they eat. it seems the oil spill could eventually devastate most of the east coast of Mauritius.

This includes stretches further north that host a large share of luxury coastal hotels. The coronavirus has closed international tourism since March. It would have been a slow recovery even without the environmental degradation.

The recent Beirut tragedy – a deadly explosion of ammonium nitrate in long-term port storage – and now this Mauritius incident raise questions about governance and security in international shipping.