Advertisement
Clean-up of oil dumped into Male lagoon area. (Photo/MNDF)

EPA says no marine life damage yet observed from Male oil spill

MNDF Coastguard started the clean-up work on Sunday after receiving information that fuel oil had been dumped to the lagoon opposite jetty number 3 in Male.

3 January 2023

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Tuesday that that heavy fuel that had been dumped in the official jetty area had not caused any damage to marine life. 

MNDF Coastguard started the clean-up work on Sunday after receiving information that fuel oil had been dumped to the lagoon opposite jetty number 3 in Male.

MNDF said:

  • 1,000 litres of oil is believed to have been dumped into the area

  • Till Monday night, 700 litres of oil had been extracted

  • The clean-up continues on Tuesday

EPA Director Ibrahim Naeem told Atoll Times on Tuesday that the agency's observations have not yet shown any damage to marine life, but that will be closely monitored.

Naeem added that they are also looking into the manner in which oil was dumped into the sea.

"At the moment, there are doubts. We are looking into what happened directly," he said.

Comments

profile-image-placeholder