Tons of oil are removed from beaches in Northeastern Brazil

Two tons of oil were removed from beaches in the state of Pernambuco between Sunday (Oct. 2) and Monday (Oct.3). Solid pieces of oil that resemble crude oil were first found by a fisherman in the city of Tamandaré.

According to the Research Center of the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) in Pernambuco, most of the oil has already been removed, but the beaches should continue to be cleaned today (Oct. 4).

This is not the first time that oil stains appear on the region's beaches this year. In August, oil pellets were collected on 10 beaches in the state of Pernambuco, two in Paraíba, one in Bahia, and another one in Alagoas.

The coordinator of the Long Term Ecological Program Sustainable Tamandaré professor Beatrice Padovane said the resurgence of this oil, now in October, is a cause for concern.

Analysis

After analyzing the oil appeared in August, Brazilian scientists concluded that it is not the same type of oil found in the environmental disaster in 2019. According to the forensics, it is crude oil, possibly from the Gulf of Mexico, and most likely it was spilled during the washing process of tanker tanks on the high seas.

Professor Beatrice Padovane, who works in the environmental monitoring of the region, points out that the damage can go beyond the effects on tourism, because the oil can spread in the food chain of marine species in the region.

The oil pellets found on Sunday (Oct. 2) in Tamandaré still need to be analyzed to evaluate if they are of the same nature as the ones found in August.