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ibraltar National
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HE hottest date on Gi- 1992, the celebration braltar’s annual calenmarks the identity and dar is September indepenwhen it celebrates 10, dence of Gibraltar and gives its residents the chance historic National Day. to come together as one. This year, the Rock its 55th anniversary marks self-governing British as a Plenty to celebrate ry, and thousands of territowill flock to its publicrevellers For Gibraltar, the date of Sepand pri- tember 10 signifies vate spaces to commemorate historic moments. Theseveral this grand occasion. most important is the 1967 The festivities, returning sovin ereignty referendum, where full force after the Covid pan- residents were asked demic, will be held to mates Square, John in Case- vote whether they wanted to Mackin- go under the sovereignty tosh Square and Governor’s of Parade. A tradition started in Continues overleaf
PATRIOTIC: Flags are going up
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Vol. 6 Issue 181 www.theolivepress.es September 7th - September 20th 2022
Wildlife danger SPILL: Booms were deployed to contain the oil
Enviromental worries as sea collision left ship leaking oil while authorities scrambled to stop the flow By John Culatto
legedly disobeyed a direct order from the port and carried on sailing to his destination in the Netherlands despite having a 10-metre gash in its hull. An independent investigation is now underway into the collision. On August 31, authorities declared the collision and beaching of the ship a Major Incident after the ship started to break up and its crew was evacuated. At this point, the port was closed down to fully attend all resources to the emergency. Under difficult circumstances, divers managed to patch up most of the oil leaks and stop the flooding of the engine room. Port barges moved in to start pumping out all fuel oil, diesel and lube oil on September 1. ALL AREAS The government COVERED pushed all its coastal agencies 4G UNLIMITED to work tirelessly
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CLEAN UP: Volunteers
ENVIRONMENTAL groups have decried one of Gibraltar’s worst ever natural disasters after a ship beached off Catalan Bay started to shed its oil on to local beaches and damage marine life. Oil seeped out from the stricken OS 35 bulk carrier soon after it was forced on to the sandbanks when it hit another ship, the ADAM LNG when it left the bay on the night of August 29. Gibraltar’s port acted quickly, ordering the 178-metre Tuvalu-registered ship to beach in shallow water to prevent it breaking up in deeper water making it impossible to save. Gibraltar’s government has since blamed the captain of the ship for the tragedy. Police arrested the skipper after he al-
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to monitor the situation and skim as much oil as possible from the surface of the water. Algeciras port sent its larger Salvamento Maritimo boats to the scene, working alongside the Gibraltar port authorities to remove oil and prevent the spill slipping out of control. The government brought in Oil Spill Response Limited experts to coordinate the disaster response. From the beginning some oil had leaked out into the Mediterranean Sea bypassing the primary and secondary booms placed around the ship. Despite the brave attempts to stem the spill, some oil reached Gibraltar’s and Spain’s beaches, staining rocks and hurting wildlife. Authorities flew red flags on all its beaches as strong westerly winds fanned the oil in their direction and moved booms designed to protect them. On land, volunteers for local sea life charity The Nautilus Project worked hard to check common bathing areas and clean the oil off rocks where possible. They found heavy oil stains See pages 14 & 16 on rocks and jet-
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ties, as well as seagulls blackened by the spill, according to their social media site. The worst hit areas were Sandy Bay, Rosia Bay and Little Bay. But authorities noticed thick black oil around World Heritage Site Gorham’s Cave at Europa Point and La Linea closed its own beaches to deal with the spill. Port barges have now removed most of the oil and diesel from the OS 35 shipwreck.
Hit
Nautilus Project volunteers discovered that the endangered Ribbed Mediterranean Limpet had been especially hit by the spill. Maritime authorities quickly moved in to restore the booms that had been moved by the wind, once again protecting bathing areas. But the environmental impact could remain for years, activists said. “We are concerned the worst-case scenario could now be before us and feel saddened and angry for our environment,” said an Environmental Support Group (ESG) spokesman. “We hope recovery efforts are as successful as possible in limiting the spread and removal of oil –even though, as is well established, traces of this contamination will remain in the environment for some time to come.” Opinion Page 6