11/7/2023 0 Comments Mauritius underground waterfall![]() Ocean currents carried the oil northwards, avoiding the Blue Bay Marine Park, but the northern coastline, the mangroves on the shoreline north of Pointe d’Esny and the Île aux Aigrettes, a small island near the wreck, were affected in the short term. The presence of mangroves, seagrass meadows, and macro algae make it a habitat for about 72 fish species and the endangered green turtle. Blue Bay Marine Park, is a marine protected area, and one of Mauritius’ main tourist attraction. ![]() Fortunately, due to the nature of the prevailing weather conditions at the time of the spill, the vulnerable habitats in the nearby Blue Bay Marine park were largely unaffected in the short term. These sites are listed under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance as biodiversity hotspots. The ship ran aground off Pointe d’Esny and just to the north of Blue Bay Marine Park. The back part of the boat has already broken off and been towed away, but the large front stern will take much longer to move and will have ongoing impacts on the nearby coral reefs. ![]() Image of the shipwreck taken from the shoreline in August. Mitigation and clean up began immediately, with several booms deployed to stop movement on oil. On 6 August, the hull of the grounded vessel began to break apart, and low sulphur fuel oil was released into the surrounding marine environment. Unfortunately, complete removal was not possible due to the location of the vessel and weather logistics. Over the time of the ship breaking up, 3,000 tons of fuel oil were removed from the carrier. MV Wakashio, a 299m bulk carrier, grounded, on 25 July, on the outer reef about 1.5 nautical miles off the South East coast of Mauritius. In this blog Michelle reflects on the impact of the oil spill and the role of marine science in mitigating environmental disaster. Michelle and her colleagues, Dr Sue Ware and Dr Phillipe Bersuder, returned to the UK last month, following work with local experts and communities to help restore its coastline and protect the thousands of animal species at risk of oil pollution. Dedicate Tours are set up to enjoy the spectacular phenomena of the underwater waterfalls.Marine Scientist Michelle Devlin, was one of three Cefas ecology experts sent, at the request of the Mauritian Government, to support the country’s response to a devastating oil spill, after MV Wakashio containing 4,000 tons of fuel ran aground and broke up near environmentally protected coral reefs in July of this year. The ocean water is spectacular from the shore, but to see this particular view requires a helicopter ride. So It’s really just the flow of underwater currents that create the dramatic image. It is, in fact, sand from the Mauritius beaches being forced off the Plateau by currents in the ocean. The flowing waterfall-like appearance, that can only be seen from above, is not actually the water itself falling. It covers an area of 115,000 km2 of shallow water with depts form with depths ranging from 8–150 m plunging to 4,000 m (13,000 ft) to the abyssal plain at its edges. The island now sits upon a Oceanic Plateau about 150 m deep which extend approximately 2,000 km from the Seychelles in the north to Réunion in the south. These islands have emerged as a result of gigantic underwater volcanic eruptions that happened thousands of km to the east of Madagascar. It has been formed together with the other Mascarene Islands (Saind Brandton, Réunion, Rodrigues) by volcanic activities about 8 millions of years ago. The island of Mauritius is actually one of the youngest island of the world.
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