‘Oil spill is a major cause of environmental hazard’

The ongoing process of oil spilling into the Arabian Sea near Mubarak Village has become a very serious cause of environmental hazard in the area. The situation is not only disturbing the marine life, but it has made lives of local fishermen difficult.

These views were expressed by Dr Shehnaz Rashid, an expert in marine biological affairs of the Centre of Excellence for Marine Biology, University of Karachi, on Monday.

While quoting her recent research, Rashid warned that oil spilling had become a serious cause of environmental hazard. Due to oil spill scenarios, the life around the coastal line had been compromised and the number of dead fish floating in the water was increasing day by day.

The people who live near or around Mubarak village say that before this oil spill they would catch fish by simply putting a bucket into the water. But now they find dead fish everywhere. This condition of Mubarak village coastal area is because of charcoal and crude oil.

“Pakistan’s coastline it is 1, 050 kilometers long and the depth for fishing has now become 300 miles. So our export potential should be $1.2 to $1.7 billion annually but due to factory’s wastage and other environmental pollution the export level goes down. Unfortunately, today our export level is $350 million,” the expert said.