Oman to combat oil pollution with radar aircraft
Date: 20-May-02
Country: OMAN
"We are buying aircraft equipped with radar, each to cost about $10 million, to monitor these vessels," environment ministry adviser Suleiman al-Busaidy told Reuters.
Regional environmental watchdog ROPME says statistics show that up to 30,000 barrels of crude leak into the Gulf daily from vessels and offshore rigs.
"Up to now, it has been difficult to monitor violators using patrol boats but aircraft will detect them even in the night when the offenders are most active," Busaidy said. He did not say how many aircraft Oman was planning to buy.
Independent oil producer Oman says tankers often clean their tanks off its coast. Last September, dead fish covered long stretches of Omani beaches and officials blamed the phenomenon on a severe depletion of oxygen caused by oil slicks.