Thousands of fishermen could be out of work for months until the 800,000-liter oil spill off the Philippines is cleaned up

Aditi Bharade
Updated ·2 min read
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  • Thousands of fishermen in the Philippines are out of work because of a massive oil spill.

  • The 800,000-liter oil spill has coated a section of the country's shoreline in a thick black sludge.

  • Fishermen can't fish in the polluted waters and may have to wait months before going out to sea again.

A massive oil spill off the coast of the Philippines has forced thousands of fishermen out of work.

The MT Princess Empress, an industrial tanker, sank off the Philippine coast near the island of Mindoro on February 28, per Reuters.

The tanker was carrying 800,000 liters of fuel oil when it went down, per Reuters. Pictures taken after the oil spill show pools of black oil floating in the otherwise clear blue waters, and the plants and sand along Mindoro's coast coated with thick black sludge.

The local authorities have barred fishermen from fishing in the polluted waters, the BBC reported. More than 18,000 fishermen from 60 villages will be out of work until the spill is cleaned up, per the BBC.

Coast guard personnel clean up an oil slick that has washed ashore from the sunken tanker MT Princess Empress.
Coast guard personnel clean up an oil slick that has washed ashore from the sunken tanker MT Princess Empress.Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

"Here in our area the oil is really thick and the smell is strong," said Maribel Famadico, 34, who lives in Oriental Mindoro. She told Reuters that she and other volunteers cleaning the shore were nauseated by sheer volume of oil coating the coast.

Dozens of residents in the province of Oriental Mindoro have reported health issues like vomiting, headaches, and nausea since the oil spill, a provincial health officer told the local media outlet Phil Star.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said at a press conference on Wednesday that he hopes the oil spill will be cleaned up in under four months, CNN Philippines reported.

Around 10% of the Philippines' gross domestic product comes from agriculture, forestry, and fishing, per a 2021 Statista report.

Representatives of the Oriental Mindoro provincial government did not immediately respond to Insider's queries about how long these fishermen will be out of work.

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