EDITORIAL — Environmental nightmare

Fishing is dead in the coastal communities of Guimaras and parts of Iloilo; thousands of marginal fisherfolk have just lost their principal source of livelihood, and the situation is unlikely to improve for a long time. The other potential major source of livelihood, tourism, is all but dead as well. Who would want to visit islands surrounded by toxic black muck?

And there’s more where that bunker fuel now fouling up the waters of Guimaras is coming from. The oil tanker Solar-I has settled at the bottom of the sea, at a depth estimated at 1,800 to 3,000 feet — way beyond the capability of the government to salvage the vessel. So the tanker, owned by the Sunshine Maritime Development Corp., continues to spew out its toxic cargo: two million liters of bunker fuel.

As of Tuesday morning, the country’s worst oil spill had spread 19 nautical miles from the point where the tanker ran aground last Friday. The affected areas include 1,100 hectares of mangroves and 26 hectares of the Taklong Island National Marine Reserve, which has 29 genera of hard corals, 144 species of fish and seven species of sea grasses. Authorities said the oil spill is expected to reach Panay Island and other parts of Negros Occidental.

Coast Guard officials estimate that it will take two to three years and at least P50 million to clean up the mess. That looks like a conservative estimate. Last year a tanker also spilled 364,120 liters of bunker fuel off Semirara Island in Antique; the cleanup is not yet complete. The latest oil spill is an environmental nightmare and the government must make sure that someone pays dearly for it. The country’s marine ecosystem is fragile enough without being choked by deadly bunker fuel. Payment means not only shouldering the cost of the cleanup but also compensating communities for the loss of their livelihood and paying the country for the irretrievable loss of marine life.