FFOS: Investigate oil spill off Cedros

The NGO Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) has received several reports of an oil spill off the coast of Cedros.

A release on Friday from corporate secretary Gary Aboud said the boats of several fishermen were being contaminated with floating chunks of crude oil.

The release said Cedros fishermen "reliably informed" FFOS that they had seen oil floating in the water near the Trinmar fields off the coast for the past week.

"However, they could not confirm that Trinmar is the source of the oil spill. The fishermen have complained that the volume of oil and damage to their boats and nets is getting worse," Aboud said.

"The fishermen have been complaining, but no one has come to their rescue."

FFOS is calling on the management of Trinmar, the Minister of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI), and on the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) to deal with the issue as a national emergency.

The spill is not only affecting boats and nets, Aboud said.

"More importantly, it is working its way into our marine food chain. Seventy per cent of our locally produced fish comes from the Gulf of Paria. This is an SOS to our Government to please come to our rescue."

Aboud called on the authorities to act with speed and activate the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan to find the source and contain the spill "before it causes more damage to fishermen's property and, most importantly our marine food basket."

Since 2015, he said, there had been over 377 reported oil spills, but none of the culprits had been fined or convicted.

He asked: "Will the culprits responsible for this oil spill be identified or charged?

"This is not a laughing matter. Oil is deadly. Every drop of hydrocarbon has an everlasting impact on our fishery."