Indonesian waters highly prone to oil spills
Indonesian waters highly prone to oil spills
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia, a vast archipelago located in a busy international sea-lane, is highly prone to oil spills which are disastrous to the environment, an official says.
Aunur Rofiq Hadi, the director of natural resource development and disaster mitigation of the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology said many parts of the Indonesian territory have been contaminated from oil spills and oil slick from tankers which stopped in and pass by the country.
"If we look at water near a seaport and near an international transportation lane, we can see it is polluted. It threatens marine resources," he said in a seminar on oil spill contingency planning and response on Tuesday.
He said during 1992, at least six tanker collisions occurred in the Malacca Strait, pouring hundreds of thousands of oil into the narrow strait bordering Singapore and Indonesia.
The most well-known disaster was the collision between the Nagasaki Spirit tanker and the cargo ship Ocean Blessing off northern Sumatra in 1992.
He said the Indonesian government's slack control made its territorial waters an oil dump for foreign tankers. He added that in the future, the control should involve more agencies assisted by Indonesian-flag ships.
The three-day seminar that will last until tomorrow is co- sponsored by Indonesia and the United States. The two countries mean to share information and experience in handling oil spill contingencies.
Indroyono Soesilo, a Technology Assessment Application Agency director for the inventory of natural resources, said Indonesian and American experts discuss effective methods and technology in handling emergencies.
According to him, methods which are considered most effective now are burning the spilled oil and using chemicals.
He said several U.S. companies and environmental agencies such as U.S. Asia Environmental Agency and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, tried to introduce new technology in oil spill management at the seminar. (rms)