WARSAW (CNS): Maurice Cardinal Piat of Port-Louis, Mauritius, praised the public response to an oil spill that devastated the island’s coastline, as one prominent lay person demanded “honest information” about the disaster.
“Numerous families are afflicted by a pestilential and persistent odour—fishermen and all those living from the sea are suffering particularly, while ecological treasures in our coastal bays and islets are gravely damaged,” Cardinal Piat said.
The 79-year-old cardinal issued the message on August 11 as desperate efforts continued to contain oil from the Japanese bulk carrier, MV Wakashio, which ran aground on a coral reef off Pointe d’Esny and broke in two on August 15. The ship flew a Panamanian flag, which allowed it to avoid marine regulations imposed by Japan.
“This ship ran aground in the worst possible place a habitat for many protected species, when our country was still closed to tourists because of Covid-19—it’s an ecological catastrophe,” Martine Lajoie, assistant chief editor of the Church’s La Vie Catholique weekly, said.
The tanker, owned by Nagashiki Shipping, became stranded off the southeast coast on July 25 with 3800 tons of heavy oil and 200 tons of diesel, and was reported to be breaking up on August 3.
However on August 13, Pravind Jugnauth, the prime minister of Mauritius, said that most of the remaining fuel had now been transferred to shore by helicopter.
Lajoie, however, noted, “Mauritius is facing another crisis as well, when those running the country are not trusted. Even if they say truthful things, people won’t believe them.”
Greenpeace Africa said that by August 11, the oil slick had spread over 25.9 square kilometres leaving thousands of rare species “at risk of drowning in a sea of pollution.”
One lay Catholic warned that the Indian Ocean country’s unique marine ecosystem, one of the few remaining worldwide, looked set to suffer lasting damage and said that the disaster left “many unanswered questions” about the Japanese tanker’s presence.
Father Jean-Pierre Arlanda, rector of Our Lady of the Angels Parish at Mahebourg, one of the worst-affected ports, told a radio station local Catholics had “mobilised immediately,” using knowledge and skills, as well as staging a “cycle of prayer and solidarity.”
Lajoie said the crisis had strengthened religious and cultural ties on the island, adding that its Interreligious Council would stage a national interfaith prayer service August 16.
However, she cautioned oil was still flowing from the Japanese carrier and was certain to force the closure of Mauritius’ Blue Bay Marine Park and other internationally known areas, as well as wrecking the livelihoods of those dependent on tourism.
“We also need honest information about who bears responsibility for this disaster, at a time when our economic situation was already difficult,” she added. “What will happen to Mauritius now that its lagoons and beaches are wrecked?”
Cardinal Piat said, “Amid the pain shared by so many, I salute the beautiful outpouring of active and enterprising solidarity now showing itself in a bid to save what might still be saved.”
The cardinal said he was encouraged to see “civil society awakening” with a “fine ecological conscience,” in ways that he said should be “taken into account by economic and political decision-makers.”
