KARACHI, Nov 9: The federal government has decided not to secure funds from the American P&I Club for the purpose of a scientific analysis of the devastation caused to natural resources by crude oil spillage from the oil tanker, Tasman Spirit, it is learnt officially.
According to sources, the methodical scientific investigations which had been delayed for at least one month, are now being carried out with the funds provided by the UN Development Programme.
The Ministry of Environment was offered funds from the P&I Club, the protection and indemnity insurers of the vessel, but it did not accept the offer for being not feasible for the purposes, added the source.
In fact, they wanted to pay the amount estimated for the two-phase scientific pursuits in instalments and that, too, of meager amount. The ministry was in possession of a significant grant from the UNDP for carrying out certain assignments under the United Nations Environment Programme, particularly under the head of pollution control. The grant is lying unutilized so far, according to the source.
The investigations titled ‘Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)’ with some amendment to the schedule of works outlined earlier, had been launched on October 25 and it is likely that findings and recommendations would be finalized by the end of February. The recommendations would be considered as the basis for developing potential options to restore, replace or provide other environmental benefits to offset the damage from Tasman Spirit disaster.
The scientific report would also help in assessing the socio-economic aspects of damage due to the spillage, which would form a basis for a claim with regard to the compensatory damages to be collected from the responsible party, and to be utilized to compensate those who suffered losses as a result of the spillage, said an official document.
Sources said that the P&I Club existed to offer third party liability insurance to the ship’s owners, operators and charterers on a mutual and non-profit basis.
The Club handles claims ranging from crew sickness or cargo damage to the full cost of major oil spills and other such disasters.
An official source said that negotiations were held between the Environment ministry and Club, but finally the ministry turned down the Club’s offer. The funding by Club may lead to a clash of interests so far as the scientific analysis is concerned, maintained the source, saying that the Club was not ready to transfer fund to any Pakistani agency. Instead, it wanted to spend the money on experts, procurement of equipment and services availed by itself for the analysis, which was tantamount to having an influence over the whole exercise.
On the other hand, the 1992 Civil Liability Convention (for oil pollution damage) and the 1992 Fund Convention (International Convention for Compensation for oil pollution damages) also provided mechanism whereby the cost of clean-up and pollution damage can be recovered on a strict liability basis from the Individual tanker owner and P&I Club involved in the incident and from the 1992 Fund, so long as the clean-up measures taken in response to an incident are well-presented. However, Pakistan has not ratified any of the two conventions.
The Director General of Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency, Asif Shuja Khan, told Dawn that the government decided not to accept the fund for the NRDA from the Club in order to maintain the neutrality of the process. It is also not appropriate to ask for money in regard to assessment of damages from those who are also supposed to pay compensations in future.
Under a revised plan, the scientific study would now cost US$150,000 to the Environment ministry and that would be met from an already available grant from the UNDP. We have engaged reputed scientists, including two from abroad, sophisticated laboratories and logistics for the purpose and it is expected that the report would be a comprehensive, credible and non-controversial document, he added.
An initial environmental impact report, prepared jointly by various government agencies, foreign experts and international organizations, has suggested such a scientific investigation covering all components of the ecosystem in three phases, starting September. The comprehensive first phase plan, is likely to cost US$190,000.
On completion of the first phase, considered to be a short-term assessment spread over a period of three weeks, two more assessments involving mangroves, fish, birds, marine mammals, sea turtles, bottom (benthic organism and plankton) have been planned to be undertaken.
It is believed that about 30,000 tonnes of crude oil had spilled from Tasman Spirit after it ran aground on July 27 in the KPT channel. The coastal environment in the spillage-hit zone, until the incident, was a rich and diverse tropical marine/estuarine ecosystem inhabiting an extensive mangroves forest, green turtle, commercial fisheries, etc.
The Environment Impact Evaluation Committee, set up by the government in the wake of the oil spill and consequent damage, had suggested the NRDA in three phases, i.e. Short-term Assessment (September and as soon as possible), Mid-term Assessment (early October to December 2003) and Long-term Assessment (2004 and onward).
According to Mr Asif Shuja, who is also the spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, during the implementation of the Short-term Assessment phase, the monitoring activities, including spill trajectory analysis, sediment sampling and analysis, water sampling and analysis, fish/shell-fish sampling and analysis, mangroves sampling and analysis, carcass survey and collection, sea turtles sampling and analysis, birds/mammals analysis, were being undertaken by different institutions, some of them being the National Institute of Oceanography, Zoological Survey Department, IUCN-Pakistan, Wildlife Department and Marine Fisheries Department.
