The dozens of stranded ships constitute an « ecological time bomb » for ecosystems.
Dugongs, sea turtles, corals and mangroves: the Gulf is home to a rich marine fauna and flora, some of which are already fragile and may be threatened by the bombs and oil of the current conflict.
Approximately 300 incidents involving environmental risks have been recorded since the start of the war by the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS), including attacks on oil tankers which create risks of oil spills.
An aggravating factor: in the Gulf, the sea is on average about 50 meters deep, semi-enclosed, connected to the Indian Ocean only by the Strait of Hormuz, with a very slow renewal of waters — between two and five years — which limits the dispersion of oil or other pollutants.
The area is home to the world’s second largest population of dugongs, herbivorous marine mammals classified as vulnerable, numbering between 5,000 and 7,500 individuals, as well as about ten species of marine mammals including humpback whales and whale sharks.
In total, more than 2,000 marine species, including more than 500 fish and five turtles, including the critically endangered hawksbill turtle, are recorded in these warm waters.
In addition, there are 100 species of coral, which together with the mangroves and seagrass beds of the area form essential breeding and nursery areas for fish and crustaceans.
Decades of pollution
The dozens of ships stuck in the Gulf, loaded with « around 21 billion liters of oil », constitute an « ecological time bomb » for these ecosystems already weakened by warming and maritime traffic, warns Greenpeace.
« This is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, » says Nina Noelle of Greenpeace Germany.
Since March 1 , nine incidents involving oil tankers, including attacks, have been reported to the British maritime safety agency UKMTO, eight of which were subsequently confirmed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Three other attacks were claimed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard but have not been confirmed by international bodies.
On the ground, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday described Israeli strikes against Tehran’s oil depots as « ecocide, » denouncing « the contamination of the soil and groundwater. »
« The wars of the 1980s and 1990s show how much the ecosystems of the Persian Gulf are exposed to conflict-related pollution, whether it results from damage to onshore or offshore oil installations, or from spills due to attacks on maritime traffic, » Doug Weir, director of CEOBS, told Agence France-Presse.
The 1991 Gulf War caused one of the largest marine oil spills linked to an armed conflict. It took decades to clean up: 11 million barrels of oil (1.75 billion liters) were spilled, contaminating 640 km of Saudi coastline and killing more than 30,000 seabirds, according to several studies.
Noise pollution
The impact on corals should be limited, according to John Burt, professor of biology at the Mubadala Arabian Center for Climate and Environmental Sciences: « Oil floats, so its dispersion remains on the surface and doesn’t really interact with corals, except in the shallower areas. »
« However, the same cannot be said of intertidal systems, » such as salt tides or mudflats, which border the coastline and are exposed at low tide, and where the « medium-term effects » could be « significant, » he says.
Seabirds are particularly threatened, as hydrocarbons destroy the waterproofing of their plumage, causing hypothermia and drowning.
Their migration could also be disrupted by the noise of the explosions and by the columns of toxic smoke, the Arabian Peninsula being located at the crossroads of many migratory routes linking Europe, Central Asia, Africa and South Asia.
Finally, « sea mines and other explosive devices can also cause acoustic disturbances that affect marine mammals and other animals, » not to mention « explosion damage to natural underwater structures such as reefs, » Doug Weir points out.
In 2003 and 2020, two studies published in Nature and in the journal of the British Royal Society had established a link between the use of medium frequency military sonars and cetacean strandings.
source : Le Devoir
