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Colombo – Ratnapura – Wellawaya – Batticaloa, Palamunai, Sri Lanka – For more than a week, what is happening on the beach at Pamunugama in the western part of Sri Lanka, 20km (12 miles) from the capital, Colombo, has been the same.
Sri Lankan naval officers have arrived wearing their hazmat suits and began collecting small pieces of fish that wash off the shore when a fire breaks out in a cargo ship on May 20.
Authorities are now speculating that oil could be lost after Singapore’s MV X-Press Pearl company sank off the west coast of the country, in a catastrophic crash.
Salvage forces tried to steer the ship into Sri Lankan waters following orders from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
But crew members stopped work when the train began to sink on Wednesday afternoon. Parts of the ship appear on the water Thursday.
The cargo ship carried 1,486 containers, plus 25 tons of nitric acid and other hazardous chemicals.
Dangerous waste on the coast
By Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of bags full of toxic waste had been collected by pirates from several coastal areas, and seized.
A small lake is near the house of 44-year-old Anton Chandana.
“At first, there were huge piles of small beads. The stakes were longer than I was, ”Chandana told Al Jazeera as he stood on the beach, watching the smoke rise from the ship on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, plastic pellets continue to swim on the surface, permanently. Chandana said no matter how many were gathered and carried away, the beach was once again clean.
Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) and the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) are monitoring the water situation on the island.
After being contacted by Al Jazeera, experts studying the incident said “it was too early for us to think”.
But experts such as marine biologist Dr Kamal Ranatunga said the results could be several.
“The ship contained a toxic substance. The results can be great but short-lived. In fact, fish eggs could have died in this region, ”he told Al Jazeera.
Fear of fat loss
But Ranatunga said he was concerned about oil shortages. When this happens, he said, the results could be long and “persistent”.
“Great efforts should be made to get rid of oil,” he warned.
Peliyagoda fish market where the outbreak of COVID-19 occurred last year [Aanya Wipulasena/Al Jazeera]
In anticipation of the disaster, Sri Lankan navy and other government agencies, along with neighboring navigators from India, are taking necessary measures, including the use of marine oil.
The Navy has sent a team of nine people to dive to find a submarine.
At a meeting on Thursday, the port’s captain, Captain Nirmal Silva, said officials believed that most of the oil in the ship had already been burned.
The National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCOP) and MEPA and other agencies have been standing firm in the oil crisis, he said.
“It has been 36 hours since the shipwreck. So far we have not seen any oil spill, ”said Silva.
Ranatunga said the accident would affect the livelihoods of the people living in the area who depend on water resources, especially fishermen.
Citizens, fearing exposure to chemicals, have already reduced their fish intake.
According to Douglas Devananda, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Fisheries and Marine Development, Sri Lanka, about 12,000 fishermen and 3,993 other people depend on fishing in the region.
“We will not allow fishing in this area. We plan to review it 10 more days before making a decision to lift or extend the ban, ”he said. The government has decided to provide $ 68 Sri Lankan ($ 68) to the victims.
‘I do not want it to increase’
For fishermen such as WKS Tharanga, 36, from Wattala in the western part of the country, the situation is a nightmare.
Tharanga lives in his fishing village in Peliyagoda [Aanya Wipulasena/Al Jazeera]
Last year, fish sales on the island declined after COVID-19 exploded at the Peliyagoda fish market, one of the country’s most important destinations.
Tharanga, a father of two, also sells fish at the Peliyagoda market. He says he is still struggling with the shortage of fish.
“I come here at two o’clock every day to sell my fish. We have even reduced prices but there are no buyers. If this continues, it will be difficult for us to feed our families, ”he said.
Kasun Milinda, 23, another fisherman in the area, has a similar story.
“My whole family depends on my income from fishing. But today they are not allowed to go fishing. I don’t know what will happen if this continues. ”
Milinda hopes he hopes there will be no oil spill in the ship as this “threatens consumers beyond measure”.
Many people living near the coast also fear that they may get sick from the smoke from the ship.
“Sometimes when it rains, I can smell the plastic. It is very dangerous, “50-year-old Kumari Dissanayake, a mother of two children from Pamunugama, told Al Jazeera. She did not buy fish for many days.
“It’s as bad as it is. Plastic is polluting the beach. We do not want it to get worse, ”said Dissanayake.
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