Rosalyn Albaniel-Evara | Post Courier
POLLUTION from the Ramu Nickel Project is already affecting the environment.
A marine expedition conducted in Madang last year has also revealed that there is marine life below the depth of 150 metres at the waters in Basamuk Bay.
This is contrary to earlier suggestions in relation to the multi-million kina Ramu Nickel Project, that no marine life existed below this depth that would be affected by the mine tailings that would be discharged into the waters.
The findings were revealed by a Frenchman, Professor Philippe Bouchet, and Head Scientist of the Marine Biodiversity Expedition which was conducted in the Madang waters, including the Madang Lagoon and the Bismark Sea.
The deep sea component of the survey had been conducted by a team of marine biodiversity scientists in December and on board the expedition vessel Alice.
Professor Bouchet said they had covered the Bismark Sea extensively and out of curiosity they had decided to also survey the area in front of the refinery including the canyon in the Astrolabe Bay where the Chinese project developers had sought approval to have the mine tailings discharged into.
Prof Bouchet said it was visibly evident that the environment there was already affected by the mine tailings.
He said it came to him as a surprise that no survey had been conducted in the area before the opening of the factory.
He said he had heard there were suggestions, including in the court in the country, that there was no marine life below the depth of 150 metres.
He said biologists knew this not to be true, and this had been confirmed when they carried out this exercise.
They said they had discovered, a week after the Ramu Nickel Project was officially commissioned, in front of the refinery, a deep sea community called Cold Seeps; and that the area was covered in red mud.
“Clearly the factory had started way before the project opening. The tailings has already impacted the area as everything is carpeted in red mud at depths of 800 metres,” he said.
However, he said what was also even more shocking was the discovery of the amount of garbage even at depths of 1000 metres.
“The amount of trash that was collected after just half an hour was a shock,” he said.
He said this to also be the case for the Madang Lagoon, which in comparison to the Bismark was shallower, where people swam and fished in.
“This area is no longer as pristine, with the amount of cans, old fishing nets and a lot of other garbage that had been dumped into the sea.
“Why should this be a worry? You should be worried with the kind of ooze that is now at the bottom, which has also been caused by the influx of rain water charged with sediments,” he said.
He said they had also discovered there to be a lot of sunken logs and wood in the lagoon.
He said while this was more than expected and was suggestive of an increase in logging and extenstion of plantations.
Another significant finding which he said is contained in the interim report, for which he had travelled into the country to present to those involved in the expedition, including local authorities, was the fact that some species whose habitats could be found, were missing.
He said he had developed a hypothesis that this was related to the coral triangle, but added that this would need to be tested in another expedition which they were planning to carry out in Kavieng.
He revealed that a scientific publication on the expedition would be forthcoming.
The expeditions goal, among others, was to document new discoveries of marine species and had involved a total of 139 participants from 20 nations and 40 institutions including the University of PNG.