Imagine, you are sitting on a dining table. Food is served in a plate right in front of you. Someone comes and spoils it, makes it uneatable. How bad & helpless you will feel. Food is there but you cannot eat it.

You will feel hungry, helpless and desperate.

Same emotions were felt by the fishes and other marine species and birds when the huge oil tankers dumped waste oil in International water off Gulf of Oman, Fujairah. This oil prevents birds from flying if got to their feathers, affects the food they eat, worse still the formation of waste oil layer on sea surface can obscure oxygen  and many fishes and other marine organisms may die a suffocating death. This time it happened right in the middle of breeding season of marine life. Over two kilometers of Fujairah coast line was affected on 13-Mar-17 and the reason of this was an oil tanker that washed its fuel storage area and dumped the waste off the coast in international waters. This is so irresponsible, so unhealthy and so cruel.

This dumping is done just to save the washing fee payable at the port. This illegal activity is carried out at night, away from the port, deep in international waters. But obviously the sea water currents carry this waste & deadly oil to the Fujairah sea shore. Here the municipality workers work tirelessly to clean the coast. Right now there is no danger as the beach is cleaned up in less than 24 hours and waste is discharged safely.

The onus is on to the operators of the huge oil tankers to clean their oil tanks legally at the port, not in deep sea. Stricter regulations, satellite monitoring and hefty fines will prevent them from doing this environmentally harmful activity.

Fellow Ambassadors, the similar activity must be happening to your coastline. Please investigate & raise awareness about such malpractices. It is our duty & environmental responsibility. Thanks for reading.

The links of Newspaper articles are attached for detailed reading.

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/environment/oil-spill-forces-hotel-swim-ban-in-fujairah

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/environment/illegal-dumping-of-waste-by-oil-tanker-causes-untold-environmental-damage-in-fujairah

Picture courtesy: The National, UAE