THERE are 20 very high environmentally-risky shipwrecks in Solomon Islands, it was revealed.
The revelation was made during the recent ‘Strengthening Marine Pollution Incident Resilience in the Pacific Islands’ at the Heritage Park Hotel.
In his presentation, the Major Projects Foundation Research Director Dr Matt Carter said there are around 210 major vessels across Solomon Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that are Potentially Polluting Wrecks (PPW) or are actively polluting wrecks and 118 of those are considered pollution threats.
Dr Carter and his team at the Major Projects Foundation have spent the past two years investigating and documenting the corrosion of World War II wrecks in Solomon Islands and elsewhere in the Pacific.
From their findings here in Solomon Islands, there are up to 210 wreckages and this is an enormous number in terms of marine pollution.
“Out of this figure, 20 are of highest environmental risks and were identified and divided into four core areas: Honiara, Savo, Tulagi, and Munda.
Shipwrecks in Honiara, which is categorized as area 1, range from zero on the shore to 130 metres deep and according to Dr Carter, this is challenging but not incredibly difficult to investigate.
Shipwrecks in Savo Island, which is categorized as area 2, range from 750 to 2,500 meters deep and this is very deep in terms of marine work. What can be found is that they are really deep and traditionally people have not been really worried about the shipwrecks as they think they are too deep and the oils will be trapped down there forever, despite the surfacing of oil.
Shipwrecks in Tulagi, which is categorized as area 3 and surrounding areas, are shallower wrecks that range from about 80 metres and though they are at a quite challenging depth range, they can be investigated with the right equipment to understand what condition they are in.
Of the shipwrecks in Western Solomons which is categorized as area 4, three have been identified and they could be potentially polluting or actively polluting and require further research.
According to Dr Carter, the question of the actual figure, locations and how much oil the wrecks still hold is really difficult to ascertain and the simple answer is nobody knows.
“Nobody actually knows how much oil is on these shipwrecks, what kind of threat they could be, but we do know that from historical records when the ships sunk, they had a maximum capacity of about 28,000 tonnes or 28,873 million litres, so their capacity was huge.
“These are very large vessels and in significant numbers. But from there, we do know that some of them were carrying less than 100 percent capacity when they sunk and they will have lost oil during the sinking,” Dr Carter said.
Dr Carter said these ships sunk because they had torpedo holes, bomb holes and had internal explosions.
He added that they will have lost some oil, but no one knows how much oil has been lost.
“They have been leaking over the past 80 years. So, if a shipwreck is leaking even at a small amount over a long period of time, that can significantly reduce how much oil is in it today but we simply don’t know with the information currently available.
“What we find with these shipwrecks, which is a global problem, is there’s about 8,800 of them right across the world and what we’ve found is that even some have people looked at them and said, “Oh no, it’s blown to pieces, it can’t hold any oil.
“Some of them do hold even small quantities and if the shipwrecks in a sensitive area releases that oil, they can cause really significant damages,” Dr Carter said.
He added that there is some information they know about the PPW in Solomon Islands.
“At least eight of those 20 are actively polluting, meaning they are repeat leakers. This is from a satellite work which Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CFAS) have done.
“So we do know the location of the top 20 and we know the coordinates of where there are likely to be oil spills in the near future. It’s around kind of the harm to human health, to social, to cultural, harm to seafood and animals and plants.
“But the key point here is that just because it’s an oil slick from a World War II shipwreck, it doesn’t make any difference for what it’s going to impact than a more modern slick today,” Dr Carter said.
In his presentation, Dr Carter also shared ideas on what needs to be done.
He said even though they are all doom and gloom, there are some things that can be done to mitigate or improve the situation and work is in progress at the moment.
By AGNES MENANOPO
Solomon Star, Honiara