Oil pollution at nature reserve worse than initially thought

Last week's oil pollution, caused by vandals at the Ghadira Nature Reserve, is worse than initially thought, BirdLife Malta said yesterday.

André Raine, BirdLife Malta conservation manager, has discovered that large sections of the ditches surrounding the southern part of the reserve were also filled with thick oil, suggesting that significantly more oil had been poured into the reserve.

"The reed-filled ditches are so thick with oil that the surrounding air reeks of nauseating fumes," Dr Raine said in a statement yesterday. "The quantity of oil in the ditches, as well as a large number of bottle caps lying around the perimeter of the reserve, suggest that the initial estimate of 10 gallons used in the attack is very much an underestimate."

The newly discovered evidence shows that vandals struck from at least four different points around the reserve. Birdlife believes they climbed over fences to pour oil into the surrounding ditches before throwing oil-filled bottles far out into the ponds and reservoir.

"This shows that the vandalism was much more than just a simple act involving a couple of people throwing a few bottles over the fence," BirdLife said.

There was obviously a serious level of forethought and planning involved, with oil being poured into strategic locations where it would cause the most damage to the fragile ecosystem, it added.

BirdLife has contacted the Environment Ministry and the rapid response team, operating under the Tourism Ministry, every day requesting manpower and technical assistance to clean up the reserve before toxic chemicals spread and accumulate in the sediment.

However, due to a lack of human resources, the rapid response team could only provide 'oil towels' to "mop up the spill" and no manpower.

However, the head of the rapid response team visited the reserve yesterday and promised to provide more specialised material assistance to speed up the clean-up operation.

Since four days have passed and most of the oil has still not been cleared, it has had plenty of time to seep into the wetland's ecosystem, with toxic chemicals spreading into the water as well as sinking into the sediment.

This could result in mass deaths of amphibians and invertebrates. The contaminated wetland will also have potential long-term ramifications on the food chain and migrant birds that use the reserve.

The Ghadira Nature Reserve is designated as an International Ramsar Wetland Site. It is also a Special Protection Area and a Special Area for Conservation, making it a Natura 2000 site under EU legislation.

Tolga Temuge, BirdLife executive director, called on the government to increase security measures around the Ghadira and Is-Simar nature reserves.

"In view of the recent vandalism close to the Qrendi temples and keeping in mind the statements posted on the FKNK's Website forum (Federation for Hunting and Conservation) last January promoting violence and vandalism, the culprits of the recent attack on the Ghadira Nature Reserve are not hard to determine," he said.