The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is bringing to light the level of pollution in the South China Sea, including large slicks of bunker fuel apparently from ships, Bloomberg View reports.
The Vietnamese navy reported finding 6-mile and 9-mile slicks on Saturday, with some observers hoping they might provide clues to the missing plane, but the spills were determined to be bunker fuel.
Fishermen and rescue workers have also found life rafts, life jackets, a jet’s door, and plastic oil barrels, all of which turned out to be part of the baseline pollution of the water rather than debris from Flight MH370.
The Chinese government reported in 2012 that the nation’s rivers dumped 93,000 tonnes of oil into oceans including the South China Sea, but satellite imagery used in another study determined that that kind of runoff accounted for only 36 percent of the oil found in China’s seas.
Forty-five percent of oil in the waters was from transportation, with a third of the world’s seaborn oil and more than half of the natural gas moving through the South China Sea, leading to oil slicks that general garner little attention.
Chou Loke Ming, a biology professor at the National University of Singapore said pollution has hurt coral reefs, fisheries, and tourist sites in the sea.
“I think it will overall get worse simply because of the sheer scale of the development that’s going on in the region,” he said.
“Although there is more awareness about reducing pollution loading, and also some better management being undertaken, the volume is just too great.”
Vessel traffic in the South China Sea has also been cited as a major cause of air pollution in coastal cities like Shenzhen.
2014 Ship & Bunker