Two months after oil spill, Tobago slowly recovering

As Tobago nears the end of the second month of the oil spill ordeal, the island has been seeing significant progress over the past few weeks with controlling the situation and containing the bunker fuel.

In the first month, the island had been able to contain the leak from the overturned barge, Gulfstream, which ran aground off the Coast of Cove on February 7.

For weeks the vessel spewed fuel devastating 15 kilometres of shoreline and ecosystem in that area.

Almost two months later, the clean-up continues.

Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) director Allan Stewart told Guardian Media, on Thursday morning, the island still has a long way to go.

He said, “We have recognized certain aspects of the operation to be coming to an end. That’s where you have these endpoints being established.”

Meanwhile, salvage experts are still on the island strategizing ways to vacuum and contain the remaining oil before bringing it to land.

“It’s not decided fully as yet. They will put it onto a barge and ship it to Trinidad. That is one concept of operation. The reason we can’t go into details is because these are just concepts.”

On Wednesday, Planning and Development Minister Penelope Beckles-Robinson and a team of officials from the Tobago House of Assembly toured the area following discussions on a waste management plan for the collected oil and polluted water. (Trinidad & Tobago Guardian).