Bluff Yacht Club raised the alarm this morning about an oily contaminant which washed down the adjacent canals into the harbour during the overnight rain.
When yacht club members arrived at about 7am, the offensive smelling, oil-based chemical substance had coated the shoreline in a band that stained the high water mark.
A flock of Egyptian geese walking on the shoreline hadn’t escaped the contaminant, as one of the gosling’s feathers appeared to be coated in it. It is unclear what effect the contaminant had on the marine life.
Litter on the shoreline was also riddled in the brownish-red substance and a band of discoloured water lapped the shore.
Densel Wortmann of the BYC said the overnight rain on Thursday had caused the substance to pockmark the sides of some of the yachts. Wortmann contacted the port captain’s office early on Thursday morning, which dispatched a representative to survey the area. By 1pm, Katlantic, an underwater construction, diving, inspection and repair service company, had been contracted by the Transnet Port Authority and had responded to the site. Katlantic director, Zain Kathrada had a team of several men on site to assess the situation and remove samples of the soil and contaminated items for testing.
He speculated that it appeared to be a varnish-like oil but said the tests would provide clarity on what exactly it was. Once the contaminant was identified, efforts could be made to identify its source.
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The contaminant appeared to have washed down the Umbilo or Umhlatuzana canals which feed into the harbour near the yacht club. According to Wortmann, the club deals with spills that emanate from the canals at least three times a month.
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“If the weirs on the canals are serviced and maintained, we wouldn’t have the problem so often,” said Wortmann. He pointed out where caked sand on the shoreline had been affected in previous spills, where thousands of litres of oil had washed down the canals into the port from a Mobeni oil warehouse fire.
This is a developing story.
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