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EPA scrambles to clean up oil slick off Lanyu Island

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) will collaborate with the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to probe the source of a large oil slick off the island township of Lanyu (蘭嶼) and track down the culprit.

After scooping up 3.5 tonnes of oil from the scene since Sunday, EPA officials still have no clues as to the identity of the ship that dumped the oil or when the dumping took place.

Environmental protection authorities have made little headway in efforts to find the culprit, as thick cloud cover prevented the ROCSAT-II satellite from recording any images that could help to identify suspicious vessels sailing between Taiwan and Lanyu between July 2 and July 3. These days were calculated to be the most likely when "most likely a foreign vessel" secretly dumped its waste oil.

According to Lin Sheng-hsiung (林聖雄), an official with Taitung County's Environmental Protection Bureau, the oil slick was about 2km long and 500m wide. It is believed to have been caused by five tonnes of waste oil, which, when combined with water, formed a slick of nearly 20 tonnes.

Lin said that the oil slick could not have been caused by a discharge from Lanyu itself, since the island has no industries and most of the ferries used by the Lanyu residents are 27-piece assembled canoes.
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