By Gabriela Baron
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) detected oil stains in five mangrove areas in Pola, Oriental Mindoro.
As of April 17, PCG’s Incident Management Team (IMT), has recorded 9,589 meters of affected area out of 164,481.55 square meters of 16 mangrove areas in six barangays in Pola and one in Naujan.
“Five mangrove areas in Pola were monitored to have sporadic oil stains on mangrove trunks at 1% to 8% distribution only,” PCG said.
However, no oil smothering on the mangrove root system was monitored.
PCG’s IMT recorded the largest affected mangrove area in Barangay Batuhan in Pola, with patchy oil stains with an area of 8,889 square meters.
“The oil stains have no environmental or health threat to mangroves, which requires no further physical cleaning to promote natural recovery,” PCG said.
“No oil traces were monitored in five mangrove areas in Barangay Herrera, Naujan.” -ag