KARACHI: Recent media reports of an ‘oil slick’ affecting Clifton beach were false and actually it was sewage, which was apparently flushed out from a drain and made its way to the beach, pointed out Dr Nuzhat Khan, a senior scientist, at a seminar held on Thursday.

Titled ‘Awareness on sea pollution and marine litter’, the seminar was organised by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) at its offices to mark the International Beach Cleaning Week.

Referring to the ‘oil slick’ report during her presentation, she said the media disseminated wrong information and didn’t give time and space to the actual facts when presented before it.

“There was no sign of an oil slick. In fact, it was sewage that seemed to be clogged in a drain and [was] flushed out due to rain, affecting a 3km area,” she said, adding that pollution affecting the coast was a serious issue and the city desperately needed a proper system for waste collection and disposal.

Karachi’s beaches pose a health risk to visitors, say experts

In this context, she cited some recent surveys conducted by NIO according to which the raw waste from Cattle Colony had badly affected parts of the Korangi Creek, including its fish harbour.

“You can actually see cow dung floating from Korangi Fish Harbour to Port Qasim,” she said, describing the situation as alarming.

On the hazards of plastic pollution, she said it emerged as a major concern across the world, affecting all water bodies and the coast. “We have conducted sediment analysis at various spots that has shown presence of dioxin in low concentration. But it was detectable. The major source of dioxin (a group of chemically-related compounds that are of concern because of their highly toxic potential) in our country is open-air burning of plastic waste,” she explained.

She said that seas were being polluted from untreated domestic and industrial waste as well as discarded fishing nets, which acted as a death trap for marine life.

Suggesting some solutions, she said solid waste management and recycling was a booming business in many countries and it’s time that community-based entrepreneurship involving young people in such businesses were introduced in Pakistan, too.

“Besides, there should be a focus on generating minimum waste and better coastal management,” she said, adding that it’s largely the Karachi coast, constituting 7pc of country’s entire coastline, most affected by pollution.

Dr Hina Saeed Baig spoke about how countries were progressing towards cleaner beaches and tackling marine pollution. “It’s very important given the fact that there are lot of stresses on freshwater constituting only 2.5pc of the entire water resource the world has, whereas 97.5pc water is salty. One can make use of desalination technology only if we have clean coastal water,” she said.

Showing slides of the various spots of Karachi’s beaches, she noted they had become so filthy that they posed health risk to visitors. “One of our studies conducted at some spots of the Clifton beach showed presence of pathogenic bacteria in alarming numbers.”

Despite these challenges, she observed, coastal pollution was still as manageable as it was in Versova, Mumbai. “Initially, it was an individual step but later people joined in the campaign and took up the challenge to clean Versova beach, which now presents a scenic look,” she said.

Earlier, Dr Samina Kidwai highlighted government efforts in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. One recent initiative was declaring Astola Island — the country’s largest offshore island located in Balochistan — as a marine protected area.

NIO director general Dr Asif Inam also spoke.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2017