KARACHI, Nov 6: Marine species caught from the oil-affected zone of offshore waters of the Arabian Sea, still show effects of oil spill from Tasman Spirit, the foreign tanker, which ran aground in the KPT Channel on July 27 and finally disintegrated.

This was revealed during a visit of the Minister of State for Environment, Major Tahir Iqbal, to the offshore area, where scientists were working on the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) programme, sponsored by Environment ministry with the assistance of UNDP, on Thursday.

At present, sampling of sediments and seawater continues at 35 onshore and offshore stations planned under the NRDA, to record the effects of Tasman Spirit spill, which had reportedly flushed over 30,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea. The minister was shown a number of specimens of marine species, caught near the oil-affected area, which were showing signs of oil contamination, while some species had the effects of spill on their ovaries, an official handout said.

Scientists accompanying the minister confided to Dawn that future growth of fisheries sector would surely be affected.

The state minister showed great concern over contamination of marine resources and said that evidence be recorded carefully to keep the study neutral. Sampling process is likely to be completed by the end of the year, while any assessment of the monitory implications of the spill would be possible by the end of February next, Asif S Khan, Director-general, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency said.

Earlier, the state minister, while chairing a meeting of the NRDA implementation committee at the National Institute of Oceanography, was informed that 45 per cent sampling work had been completed. He was further apprised that effects of oil pollution would be long lasting and restoration of the ecosystem to its pre spill level would take many years.

About the impact of spill on mangroves seedling, it was stated in the meeting that majority of the eastern cost mangroves seedlings were destroyed. The scientists also noted change in behaviour of birds and mammals due to presence of oil in seawater.

Major Tahir urged speedy collection of scientific data and technical evidences of the damage caused to marine resources, besides monitoring of toxic effects on food chain to protect public health.

Representatives of the Maritime Security Agency, Marine Fisheries department, National Institute of Oceanography, IUCN, IBA, Karachi University, Secretaries of the provincial and federal environment departments also attended the meeting.