HEAVY OIL SPILL DISCOVERED ON GREEN ISLAND|綠島8公里海岸遭重油汙染 昨人工除汙

An oil spill was discovered on Green Island, polluting a stretch of 8 kilometers of the island's northern coastline. The Taitung County Bureau of Environmental Protection and the EPA have convened an emergency response team and sent a cleanup crew on the morning of March 11th. They believed that the spill came from a leak in a large vessel, and called on ships in the area to provide information for the investigation. Zhongliao Fishing Harbor was one of the most severely polluted spots in the recent oil spill, with a large swath of the sea floor covered in black muck that has severely disrupted the underwater ecosystem. ==YU MING-HUNG diving coach== We had touched the substance underwater, and we are quite sure it's heavy oil. It will slowly diffuse into surrounding areas and destroy large stretches of habitat in the inter-tidal zone. The polluted area was concentrated on the north side of Lyudao, or Green Island. The coral reefs in the inter-tidal zone have been covered in a layer of oil slick stretching 8 kilometers. This was the site of another oil spill over 20 years ago, but history has now repeated. The EPA and the Taitung County Bureau of Environmental Protection convened an emergency response team on the morning of the 11th, sending cleanup crews from southern Taiwan and Taitung. ==LIU JUI-HSING Dep. Director, Dpt. of Water Quality Protection, EPA== We will take samples from the site, and all of our equipment, including oil traps and absorbent sheets, as well as our contractors will arrive starting noon. ==HSIEH CHING-CHUAN Bureau of Environmental Protection Chief, Taitung County == We'll also collect relevant evidence from navigation data and samples of the oil. The Lyudao Township Office has sent sanitation workers to conduct a preliminary cleanup near the Zhongliao Harbor. The spill is believed to have originated from a large vessel. The EPA has started satellite monitoring to try to identify the source. TRANSLATED BY：JOHN CHEN 台東縣綠島北方海岸被發現受到油污污染長達8公里，水下和潮間帶被染黑。台東縣環保局和環保署已經啟動油污應變小組，11號一早派人前往協助清除油污，目前懷疑可能是大型船隻洩漏的重油，呼籲海上作業船隻，能提供相關資料協助政府追查污染來源。 ─ns─（飛魚潛水提供畫面） 在綠島發現受到油污污染最嚴重的中寮漁港，海底已經出現一長條黑色帶狀油污，海底生態嚴重被破壞。 ==(聲音來源)潛水教練 俞明宏== 在水下有去用觸碰的方式 發現這個應該是重油沒有錯 它會慢慢擴散出來 變成所有潮間帶的棲地 都會被大量破壞 ─ns─（綠島居民侯政廉提供畫面） 發現油污污染的海域集中在綠島北方，海灘潮間帶珊瑚礁也同樣被油污覆蓋，污染範圍有8公里長。20多年前這裡，也曾被油污污染，當地民眾稱為「烏油窟」，沒想到現在油污污染事件重演。環保署和台東縣環保局11號一早已經啟動油污應變處理小組，從南部和台東派人到綠島除污。 ==環保署水保處副處長 劉瑞祥== 我們會先做現場的採樣工作 然後我們現在所有的機具 就是包括集油器 吸油棉 還有我們開口合約工作廠商 在中午也會陸陸續續到達 ==(and)台東縣環保局長 謝清泉== 我們也要搜集相關事證 從航海資料以及油品方面採樣 綠島鄉公所一早已經派清潔隊，在中寮港海岸進行初步清除工作，初步研判油污可能來自大型船隻。環保署已經啟動衛星監控，希望儘快找出污染來源。 記者 章明哲 台東報導