November 3, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 7, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: The science and technology ministry is estimating the impact of oil spill by Tasman Spirit on marine and human life and environment along the Clifton beach and adjoining affected areas of Karachi.

According to a press release issued here on Sunday the project would be executed by National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in two years and would cost Rs33 million.

Three research and development scientific organizations — National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) and Centre of Molecular Genetics (CMG) of the University of Karachi — are collectively pooling their resources and expertise to evaluate the extent of damage caused as a result of the oil spill by the stranded oil tanker “Tasman Spirit”.

The organizations would also come out with remedial measures to counter the damage done by the oil spill.

Under the project the NIO would study the hydrodynamics and meteorological parameters of the Clifton coast. It would evaluate the extent of damage to human and marine life and plainly to establish the relationship of spilt oil and bioaccumulation in the area.

The organization would take steps for rehabilitation of fauna and flora and estimate biodiversity and trends in the contaminated areas.

The PCSIR would determine concentrate levels of various components of oil in water, sediment and animal tissue samples collected from the affected area and to carry out environmental impact assessment study on ambient air quality.

The focus of the CMG would be rehabilitation of the affected area by enhancing the pace of degradation of the petroleum pollutants by the use of environmental bioremediation technology.

The technology has been developed at the Centre for Molecular Genetics (CMG) during the past decade.

The organization would come up with proposals to treat the contaminated sediments and water with the bacterial consortium in various combinations using various parameters at the lab scale.