Hey #YugenCommunity! How is everyone today?
I know that most of you will be familiar with today’s topic of the FSO Nabarima which poses a grave and immediate danger to marine life and environment of Trinidad, Venezuela, as well as the ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this situation, let me briefly summarize what has been happening.
The FSO Nabarima is a Venezuelan oil storage vessel that has been anchored off the coast of Venezuela in the region of the Gulf of Paria for 15 years. However, it is alleged that no maintenance has taken place on the vessel within the last three years which has resulted in the accumulation of water in her lower decks. The accumulation of this water is causing the vessel to sink and can cause 1.3 million barrels of crude oil to be spilt into the Gulf of Paria resulting in an ecological disaster for the region.
Many persons have called upon the authorities of Trinidad and Tobago to act swiftly but, given that the vessel is in Venezuelan waters and the ship flies the Venezuelan flag, neither Trinidad and Tobago nor any other country can venture into Venezuelan waters or board their vessel unless they are given permission by the Venezuelan authorities. This is a basic law within the international system that protects the sovereignty of countries. Can you imagine what would happen if such a law did not exist and other countries could have gone into another country's territory, uninvited, when they saw an issue? (History has shown us that countries in the past, such as the US, have repeatedly disregarded this basic international law but that is another topic for another day lol).
The government of Trinidad and Tobago was given permission by the Venezuelan authorities to inspect the vessel today and it is my hope that after their investigation, we will be invited by the government of Venezuela to work swiftly on preventing this looming ecological disaster from occurring.
So I’d like to hear from you all, what is your opinion on this evolving situation?
-Daniella K
Hi Daniella!
I'm really happy the GOVTT is taking steps to investigate it and hopefully deal with the situation as soon as possible. I'm not sure about the logistics but perhaps they can arrange with Venezuelan and TT officials for some sort of process of removing the contents of the vessel.
I'm really concerned about not only the marine wildlife but the fishermen as well. They have had to deal with previous oil spills, security issues, the looming threat of bioaccumulation in fish and the COVID-19 economic downturn. Hopefully both states fully understand the massive threat this poses for all of us.