An oil spill last Friday that has already spread across several shorelines in Singapore has not affected local fish farms yet, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has said.
It added that Singapore’s local fish remain safe for consumption.
Source: Singapore Food Agency on Facebook
That’s because there is a low risk of the oil spill spreading to the Johor Strait, where the country’s fish farms are located.
The assurance over Singapore’s local fish stocks was given by the SFA in a Facebook post on Sunday (16 June).
It said none of Singapore’s fish farms had been affected by the oil spill to date.
The agency said it is in close contact with the farms and will continue to monitor the situation closely.
Singapore’s fish farms are located in the Johor Strait, which is the body of water separating Singapore and Malaysia’s state of Johor.
Source: budak on Flickr
There is low risk of the oil spill spreading to the Johor Strait, SFA said, adding that the local fish remains safe to eat.
However, the oil spill has already spread to Singapore’s southern coastal areas including East Coast Park, Sentosa and the Labrador Nature Reserve.
The oil spill at East Coast Park. Source: Sivasothi N. on Facebook
In an update on Sunday (16 June), NParks said it had also spread to St John’s and Lazarus islands.
The incident is apparently not restricted to Singapore’s shorelines, either.
Environmental conservation organisation Marine Stewards posted on Monday (17 June) that an anonymous report claimed that the spill had reached Bintan, Indonesia.
A photo purportedly taken at 12 noon on Sunday (16 June) showed dark patches on the beach at Lagoi Bay on the island.
Source: Marine Stewards on Facebook
The oil spill was the result of an allision last Friday (14 June) between a Netherlands-flagged dredger, Vox Maxima, and a stationary Singapore-flagged bunker vessel, Marine Honour, at the Pasir Panjang Terminal, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said.
An allision is when a moving ship runs into another ship that is stationary.
It occurred after the dredger experienced “a sudden loss in engine and steering control”, a joint statement from the authorities said.
The incident tore a hole in one of the Marine Honour’s oil cargo tanks, spilling its contents of low-sulphur fuel oil into the sea.
Source: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore – MPA on Facebook
About 400 metric tonnes (400,000kg) of oil was released into the sea, said MPA Chief Executive Teo Eng Dih on LinkedIn.
This is equivalent to half of the volume of the tank. The other half was contained and isolated.
Clean-up efforts are ongoing, involving more than 250 personnel on the shore.
The public is advised to keep away from certain areas of East Coast Park, Labrador Nature Reserve, Sentosa and St John’s, Lazarus, and Kusu islands to facilitate the clean-up efforts.
Also read: Oil spill spreads to St John’s & Lazarus islands, beaches closed till further notice
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Featured image adapted from Singapore Food Agency on Facebook.
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