There definitey has been a massive oil spill from an offshore ship. I have posted pictures of the spill at this website link.
http://photobucket.com/oilspillcabarete
This is a huge issue for both tourism and the environment for Cabarete. IF this was any other responsible country our beach should have been closed down immediately and the cleanup would take approximately 3-5 months for this type of spill. The faster the authorities react to a spill the easier it is to clean.
The most I have seen on the beach are two Dominicans with brooms and a dustpan slowly cleaning up some oil chunks and two army officers on the beach inspecting the sand.
Since the time has run out for an easy clean up the only way to get rid of all the oil is to shovel out all the sand on the affected areas and replace it with fresh sand. Im sure we can all guess how much that would cost and I can only assume the government isn't about to spend their money on this.
The only other way for the oil to disappear is by mother nature, this process will take 15-30 years for all of it to disappear.
You may not see the oil chunks anymore since the sun has blended them into the sand but all the dark spots you see mixed in is in fact oil. The new sand washed in may cover up the oil but it is still there and doing alot of damage.
http://photobucket.com/oilspillcabarete
This is a huge issue for both tourism and the environment for Cabarete. IF this was any other responsible country our beach should have been closed down immediately and the cleanup would take approximately 3-5 months for this type of spill. The faster the authorities react to a spill the easier it is to clean.
The most I have seen on the beach are two Dominicans with brooms and a dustpan slowly cleaning up some oil chunks and two army officers on the beach inspecting the sand.
Since the time has run out for an easy clean up the only way to get rid of all the oil is to shovel out all the sand on the affected areas and replace it with fresh sand. Im sure we can all guess how much that would cost and I can only assume the government isn't about to spend their money on this.
The only other way for the oil to disappear is by mother nature, this process will take 15-30 years for all of it to disappear.
You may not see the oil chunks anymore since the sun has blended them into the sand but all the dark spots you see mixed in is in fact oil. The new sand washed in may cover up the oil but it is still there and doing alot of damage.
