Oil spill off Mumbai sea coast has spread alarm among people who consume fish and other seafood  The recent collision of the two merchant ships off the Mumbai coast and subsequent oil spill in the water has made people cautious about seafood consumption in and around the Maharashtra region. Even though it was a minor spill, fishermen are worried that it may negatively impact marine life, especially organisms living on the surface of the water. In this context, W S Lakra, director of National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, in an interview with FoodProcessing360 correspondent, says, “It is immaterial how big or small the spill is. What matters is that any kind of pollution in the water will have an impact on marine life and if the spill is not cleaned quickly then it will have a dangerous impact on the marine organisms in the days to come.”
Unfortunately, the spill happened after the breeding season. This is the time when the hatchlings feed. “Therefore, there are high possibilities that the oil spill will contaminate seafood,” added Mr Lakra.
Measures undertaken
In order to prevent catching and selling of contaminated fish in the market, the authorities have issued circulars where they have temporarily banned fishermen from catching fishes.
Local civic bodies, on the other hand, are carrying on indiscriminate checks on fishes, which are reaching the market for transaction. Samples of seafood such as prawns and bombils (popularly known as Bombay Duck) have also been sent to the laboratories for tests to ensure that they are safe for human consumption.
These apart, the civic bodies in the area have already issued advisory to people in the region to be cautious before consuming seafood items.
Talking on this score, Rustam Irani, president of Seafood Exporters’ Association of India, Maharashtra region, said, “We do not apprehend a major damage or contamination of marine life or water. Nevertheless, the cleaning process should be hastened and fish catching should be stopped temporarily.” However, Mr Irani is hopeful that things will normalise within a few days and fishermen would be able to venture out for fishing when the actual fish catching season starts post mid-week of August.
Shalmoli Kundu |
