Oil spill material on course for Bahamas
By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL
Freeport News Reporter
krystal@nasguard.com:
Although it is suggested in several Internet reports that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is likely to affect Grand Bahama in the future, local Ministry of Tourism officals have been silent on what, if any, steps are being taken to assure potential tourists that the island's coast is clear.
A search by reporters on different online locations showed various mentions of Grand Bahama in articles discussing the threat of the spill which is currently spreading in the Gulf of Mexico.
There are also queries submittted on message boards by persons who have already booked, or were planning to book, vacations to The Bahamas on whether the oil spill would affect their stay in any way.
An article written by the Managing Editor of the cruisecritic.com website Melissa Paloti addressed concerns about whether cruise ports would be affected.
"We're keeping a close eye on ships that call on Nassau and Freeport in The Bahamas, as well as those that turn around regularly in Florida homeports, such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Port Canaveral," it read.
"Lines include Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess and Disney. Spokespersons for all of the above-mentioned lines have all said that no itinerary changes have been made though they continue to monitor the situation."
Another article by All Headline News Editor Ayinde Chase pointed out that water samples taken from the Florida coasts have confirmed low concentrations of subsea oil.
"This news confirms what many had already suspected and now give further evidence that pieces of the Gulf oil slick are breaking off and beginning to enter the loop current, possibly propelling tar balls towards beaches in the Bahamas and South Florida over the next several weeks," the article reads.
"Currently news of the northern Gulf Coast dominate the headlines but soon Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, even Nassau could be impacted by drifting oil pieces caught in the Gulf Stream current, which flows around the tip of Florida and passes along the western end of The Bahamas."
When The Freeport News contacted the director for the Ministry of Tourism's Grand Bahama Office on Wednes-day, Karen Seymour, she said no one from that office would be able to speak on the matter. Reporters were re-ferred to the Ministry of Tourism's Plantation, Florida office on Tuesday but have been unsuccessful in obtaining a statement up to press time yesterday.
Florida officals lauched an advertising campaign proclaiming that the state's "coast is clear," in an attempt to mitigate the losses in-curred by trip cancellations. The campaign was later pulled as the threat of the spill reaching those shores loomed. The Ministry of Tourism has announced no such campaign for The Bahamas.
The Freeport News has learned that a meeting is expected to be held on Monday (June 14) with members of the Disaster Preparedness Committee and other officials to discuss the contingency plan created by the government. Admini-strator Don Cornish said the meeting will seek to assess the infrastructure and resources available on island for use in the event the spill comes to local shores.
"We will talk about the plan that has been submitted and examine it to see how we can put resources in place to respond. In addition to that we are going to identify volunteers to assist us with clean-up if in fact we have contamination of our beaches," he said.
Commandeer Patrick McNeil of the Port Depart-ment confirmed that a team of scientists left New Providence yesterday, headed for Bimini where they will collect water samples and information about existing marine life to serve as a benchmark should conditions change. The exercise is similar to the one conducted in Cay Sal last month. The team is expected to return to New Providence on Sunday and another expedition is planned for Grand Bahama sometime after that.
An article posted on the discover-eleuthera-bahamas.com site pointed out that the danger of an oil slick expansion comes from the action of the loop current which is active in the Gulf of Mexico but which does not touch Eleuthera, meaning that island's beaches are safe.
"But, that cannot be said of all other islands in The Bahamas. The Bimini Islands, famous for deep sea fishing, are endangered and so are the beaches of Freeport the second largest and highly touristic town in the Bahamas. Freeport is situated on the western tip of Grand Bahama island."
That current flows northward into the Gulf of Mexico, the article explained, then loops southeastward to the Florida Keys.
"From there it is called the Florida Current. The Florida Current flows west of the westernmost Bahamas, i.e. the Bimini Islands and Grand Bahama (Freeport). These are the Bahamian islands endangered by the oil slick," it read.
Another article posted on June 9 on the Atlanta Weather Blog noted that pieces of the oil slick are breaking off and beginning to enter the loop current, possibly propelling tar balls to-wards beaches in the Baha-mas and South Florida over the next several weeks.
"Freeport and Grand Baha-ma Island, even Nassau, could be impacted by drifting oil pieces caught in the Gulf Stream current, which flows around the tip of Florida and passes along the western end of The Bahamas."
"Assuming oil continues to spew from the broken well, various models suggest oil slick pieces cutting under the Florida Keys and heading towards Florida's east coast by early next week. Meteorologists foresee oil passing under Key West, Fla., possibly washing upon shores in Miami, and then heading north to Freeport, Bahamas."
A trajectory could also place oil pieces further south, the article continues, where (they) would affect beaches along Havana, Cuba and then swinging wide through Grand Bahama Island.
Accuweather staff writer Carly Porter writes that meteorological models show drifting pieces of oil cutting under Key West.
"There is the possibility that drifting pieces of oil could get swept up in the Gulf Stream and round the tip of the Florida Peninsula. Once in the Gulf Stream, oil drifters could be swept toward the Atlantic with the western end of The Bahamas the most vulnerable," he said.
"Oil in the form of tar balls could wash up along the beaches of popular tourist destinations of Grand Bahama Island and Nassau.
The accuweather.com meteorologists are predicting that drifting oil has a 15 percent chance of reaching Freeport within the next 30 days; a 20 percent chance in the next 60 days, a 25 percent chance in the next 90 days and a 30 percent chance in the next 120 days.
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