Oil spillage pollutes Ghana’s Axim coastline

A long stretch of the coastline at Axim in the Western Region has been inundated with heavy oil spillage, known as tar balls, as a result of the increase in vessel traffic in the country’s waters.

The substance is not the country’s sweet crude currently being produced offshore at the Jubilee Fields but heavy waste oil from vessels that supposedly visit the country’s ports for commercial or supply services.

At the moment, the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) is yet to identify the par­ticular vessels that continuously discharge the waste oil into the country’s waters.

The inhabitants of three communities in the Axim municipality – Amanfukumam, Akyinim and Brawire – who are mainly fishermen cannot use their beaches as a result of the situation.

However, the Western Regional Manager of Zoomlion, Mr Gershon Sogbey, and a team from the Eco Brigade have moved in to clean portions of the beach to enable the fishermen and the community to use it.

Mr Sogbey told the Daily Graphic that the team had managed to clean most of the affected areas, especially the place the fish­er folk could use for their trade.

He said his outfit was very vigilant and proactive and would ensure that the affected areas were cleared in order not to affect the activities of fishermen.

When contacted, officials of the Environ­mental Protection Agency said they had vis­ited the area and taken samples of the sub­stance for examination.

Source: Daily Graphic