La Brea fisherfolk praise oil spill clean-up

According to reports, waves of oil began washing ashore along the Carat Shed Beach, Coffee Beach, Station Beach and Point Sable, La Brea early on Saturday morning. However, a clean-up contractor, Tiger Tanks Limited, was dispatched to the area by Petrotrin, and by Monday morning, the majority of the beaches had been cleaned by the company.

In a telephone interview yesterday, La Borde observed that while fishermen had been affected by the oil slick, they would not be making “noise” about claims for compensation as the oil had not inflicted significant damage to their vessels.

“Yes, we were affected but we not going to jump out and make noise about money for those two days,” La Borde said, adding, “one thing we looking at is different types of oil came up there as compared to the ordinary oil that come up, that oil that came up there is something they are calling weathered oil, it was not really sticking onto the anchor rope or the throw line or sticking onto the boat also.” He continued, “It seems as if the oil spend some time out in the weather before it come onshore and that is why it really did not stick to the boats or the ropes.

That is the thought.” The Global Marine Oil Pollution Information gateway website notes that when different kinds of oil enter the sea, many physical, chemical and biological degradation processes start acting on them with some processes changing the properties and behaviour of the oil.

In Weathering, winds, waves and currents may result in natural dispersion, breaking a slick into droplets which are then distributed throughout the water.

These droplets may also result in the creation of a secondary slick or thin film (sheen) on the surface of the water.

Petrotrin, in a media statement on Saturday, described the oil as “oil pellets” and noted that a team of company personnel had visited the beaches and confirmed the presence of the oil pellets.

Meanwhile, La Borde observed that the source of the oil would not be identified by the company saying a similar spill had occurred last September and while Petrotrin had sent the oil sample for analysis, the source had not been made public by the company.