Plastic pellets, untreated sewage pose threat at Papanasam beach in Varkala
The temple authorities, who oversee the ritual arrangements, have expressed their worry over the unhygienic conditions of the beach. 'The stench from the polluted water and the plastic nurdles washing ashore have made it difficult for devotees arriving to offer bali,' said a temple official. 'We hope the authorities will act swiftly to clean up the area before the Vavu Bali on July 24,' the official added.
Local residents say that none of the authorities, including the Dewaswom Board, Varkala municipality, and district administration, are taking up the responsibility to address the pollution issues at the beach frequented by thousands every day.
Hospital ward councillor K Anil Kumar echoed the concerns, stating that the beach is in no condition to host a major spiritual event. 'The restaurants and resorts on the cliff continue to discharge raw sewage directly into the water. No serious cleanup was undertaken last year either, despite the large turnout of devotees. The dispute between departments on who is responsible for cleaning up the beach every year has worsened the situation,' he said.
Meanwhile, Papanasam ward councillor P Ajayakumar maintained that daily cleaning efforts are underway. 'Fire department personnel and volunteers have been consistently removing plastic nurdles from the shore. We will intensify the cleanup and make all necessary arrangements to ensure that the ritual is conducted smoothly,' he said.
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The world's oceans—critical conduits of global commerce, reservoirs of marine biodiversity, and regulators of Earth's climate—are confronting threats of unprecedented scale and complexity. While overfishing, plastic pollution, and ocean warming have long dominated environmental discourse, oil spills remain one of the most acute and underappreciated forms of marine degradation. The recent spill off Kerala's coast offers a sobering illustration of how such incidents are not isolated anomalies but symptomatic of a broader, systemic crisis—one that is both local in its impact and global in its implications. A local disaster, a global symptom In late May 2025, the MSC ELSA 3, a Liberian-flagged container ship, capsized and sank off the coast of Alappuzha. What followed was a catastrophic oil spill that released more than 450 tonnes of furnace oil, diesel, and hazardous cargo—including plastic nurdles—into the Arabian Sea. The disaster has wreaked havoc on Kerala's coastal ecosystems, severely impacted the livelihoods of fishing communities, and exposed significant gaps in maritime disaster preparedness. The environmental footprint is enormous: thick furnace oil now stains Kerala's once-pristine beaches, nurdles are washing up on shores from Thiruvananthapuram to Kollam, and fragile estuaries and backwaters face long-term contamination. For the fishing communities dependent on these waters, the consequences are not just ecological—they are existential.
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- New Indian Express
Plastic pellets, untreated sewage pose threat at Papanasam beach in Varkala
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the annual 'Vavu Bali' ritual just days away, pollution at the Papanasam beach in Varkala has sparked serious concern among devotees and the Janardhana Swamy Temple authorities. Nurdles (tiny plastic pellets) from the MSC Elsa 3 shipwreck and unchecked sewage discharge from nearby hotels and resorts continue to pollute the beach, posing a health hazard and creating severe inconvenience for tourists and pilgrims. The temple authorities, who oversee the ritual arrangements, have expressed their worry over the unhygienic conditions of the beach. 'The stench from the polluted water and the plastic nurdles washing ashore have made it difficult for devotees arriving to offer bali,' said a temple official. 'We hope the authorities will act swiftly to clean up the area before the Vavu Bali on July 24,' the official added. Local residents say that none of the authorities, including the Dewaswom Board, Varkala municipality, and district administration, are taking up the responsibility to address the pollution issues at the beach frequented by thousands every day. Hospital ward councillor K Anil Kumar echoed the concerns, stating that the beach is in no condition to host a major spiritual event. 'The restaurants and resorts on the cliff continue to discharge raw sewage directly into the water. No serious cleanup was undertaken last year either, despite the large turnout of devotees. The dispute between departments on who is responsible for cleaning up the beach every year has worsened the situation,' he said. Meanwhile, Papanasam ward councillor P Ajayakumar maintained that daily cleaning efforts are underway. 'Fire department personnel and volunteers have been consistently removing plastic nurdles from the shore. We will intensify the cleanup and make all necessary arrangements to ensure that the ritual is conducted smoothly,' he said.
Hindustan Times
07-07-2025
- Hindustan Times
The environmental cost of back-to-back shipwrecks on Kerala shores
For the past three weeks, large stretches of the beaches in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala have been glistening after tonnes and tonnes of plastic nurdles, or pellets, which are extremely hard to remove, washed up on the shores. The nurdles of two to three millimetres in size and white in colour washed ashore in Kerala in May (HT photo) Barely two to three millimetres in size and white in colour, the nurdles, a foundational material in the manufacture of a wide variety of plastic products, are among the environmental after effects of the sinking of the Liberia-flagged cargo vessel MSC ELSA 3 around 14 nautical miles away from Kerala's coast on May 25. While all the 24 foreign crew onboard were rescued by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard, the vessel along with all the cargo have sunk into the Arabian Sea. According to officials, of the 643 containers loaded on the vessel, 65-70 were filled with plastic nurdles and 13 with calcium carbide which when mixed with seawater produces flammable acetylene gas. Many of those containers have likely dispersed into the sea while some are still located in the cargo hold of the vessel. While the ship has sunk completely, over 60 containers, mostly empty, have floated to the shore so far. While Kerala was grappling with the consequences of the MSC ELSA 3 incident, 15 days later, the MV Wan Hai 503 cargo vessel sailing under the flag of Singapore reported large explosions and fire around 44 nautical miles off the coast of Azheekal in Kannur district. The Navy and the Coast Guard responded to the fire and helped rescue 18 of the 22 crew onboard with the remaining four missing to this day. Over the next two weeks, the fire on the ship was largely contained, although shipping officials have confirmed that most of the cargo has been destroyed in the fire, with several containers even falling into the sea. The Wan Hai incident particularly sent alarm bells ringing within Kerala as the manifest of the ship pointed to the presence of several classes of dangerous goods in 143 of the 1754 containers onboard. The two back-to-back episodes, say officials and experts, have laid bare the chinks in maritime safety in the country and the state's vulnerabilities in responding effectively to the subsequent environmental damage. The direct environmental cost M Abdul Wahid, president of the Chirayankeezh panchayat where the plastic nurdle pollution has been extreme, said that dozens of personnel hired by a salvage firm on a daily wage continue to meticulously scoop out the pellets from the beaches. He said the panchayat deputed volunteers on the first day of the cleaning operations and the shipping firm later tied up with the salvage company and hired professional personnel to complete the task. 'At least 500 sacks of pellets have been collected so far from the beaches in our panchayat alone. There are tons left. A few dozen cleaning personnel are out every day filtering the pellets from the sand and taking them away from the coast. The operation will take a lot of time,' Wahid told HT over the phone. A situation report of the Directorate General of Shipping on June 25 stated that the first batch of 18.5 metric tonnes of pellets washed up on the coast has been transported and secured at the MERC warehouse within Kollam port. 'The situation underscores the potential for continued wash-up of nurdles and packaging materials along the coastline in the coming days. Shoreline teams remain actively engaged to mitigate the impact with systematic monitoring and recovery operations in place,' it said. Professor Anu Gopinath, head of the department of aquatic environment management at the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), termed the plastic nurdles a 'big hazard' for the marine environment. 'Initially, the plastic nurdles will float on the water surface and gradually sink into the water column. Inside the sea, the pelagic fishes will knowingly or unknowingly consume the pellets, which will remain in their system and ultimately reach the human food chain. There are also concerns for the benthic marine organisms once the pellets reach the bottom of the sea,' Prof Gopinath said. She said the containers loaded with chemicals and environmentally hazardous substances on the Singapore-flagged vessel, which may have fallen into the sea, must be identified quickly and relocated by authorities to prevent long-term impact on aquatic life. The cargo manifest includes items like naphthalene, trichlorobenzene, paint, liquid pesticides, and flammable solids, all of which are marine pollutants, she said. 'Since there was a fire on the ship, the possibility of the chemicals leaking into the sea exists. The truth is that we still don't know what sort of hazardous cargo has fallen into the sea and leaked into the water. Some chemicals are organic in nature and can destroy phytoplankton, the basic food source of the fishes. Additionally, it's also the breeding season right now and eggs and larvae won't be able to escape the effects of the chemicals. This will have a direct impact on the fisheries resource and in the long term, upset the economy and harm the coastal communities,' said Prof Gopinath. VN Sanjeevan, professor chair at the Centre of Excellence in Aquatic Resource Management and Conservation at KUFOS and a member of the state government-appointed committee to track the environmental effects of the two shipping incidents, spoke about the preliminary impact of the chemical contaminants from the ELSA ship on a batch of fish eggs near the coast of Kollam. The study conducted on June 5 near Kollam coast pointed to damage and disfiguration of around 70% of a small batch of mackerel eggs. May-June is the general spawning period of fishes in the region and currently, a 52-day trawling ban is enforced in Kerala to allow for reproduction and healthy growth of juvenile fishes. 'We suspect that some of the floating containers from the ship carried quick lime, mostly used for agricultural purposes. Quicklime can change the alkalinity and pH of seawater. In the process, fish eggs stand to be affected by osmotic imbalance due to the change in the pH level of the seawater. Those eggs will not hatch and it will likely affect next year's fishery,' said Sanjeevan, adding that he has submitted a preliminary report to the government. Another critical finding in the study, he underlined, was the presence of cyclonic eddy currents in the Arabian Sea which can push the contaminants, including the plastic pellets, towards the Gulf of Mannar, a prominent biosphere reserve. 'It is a chain of low islands and reefs that is home to thousands of species of rare flora and fauna. While Lakshadweep will not get affected, the contaminants may reach the Gulf of Mannar which entails big ecological risks,' he said. Kerala's fisherfolk in misery Leaders within the state's fisherfolk community say they were already confronting the effects of coastal erosion, induced by global warming, unscientific infrastructure projects and changing ocean conditions, along with fluctuations in fish catch. The state recorded 581,000 tonnes of fish production from the sea in 2023-24, a drop from the 690,000 tonnes the previous year. The back-to-back ship incidents have aggravated the crisis in the fisheries sector by imposing restrictions on fishing in a particular belt where the ELSA ship sank and propelling fears about chemical leakage into the marine ecosystem, they say. Charles George, state president of the Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi, a fishworkers' labour union, said thousands of fisherfolk have lost work days due to the MSC ELSA 3 sinking which have not been appropriately compensated by the government. 'The ship sank near the Quilon Bank, a big fishing bank with precious marine wealth extending around 84 kilometres in length and about 30-32 nautical miles wide. It's a region where over 1,000 fibre boats, 500 trawl boats and over 100 inboard canoes operate. There are no marks or signs installed in the region to warn fishers about floating containers. As a result, many groups saw their fishing nets getting torn by the containers. Each net costs around ₹10 lakh,' said George. He said the state government's relief to fishworkers and their families in the form of free rations and ₹1,000 per family was meagre and inadequate for the loss of livelihood during the period. George said he would file a petition in the high court soon demanding an independent expert committee to study the ecological damage caused by the two shipping incidents. 'As per the 1992 civil liability convention, a case should have been registered against the shipping company by the coastal police and the captain arrested for negligent navigation. But the state government sees the shipping company MSC and the Adani group's Vizhinjam port as its patrons and acts according to their interests. There have been several lapses by the government,' he said. According to a statement on May 29 by state government's chief secretary A Jayathilak after a meeting between chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the MSC shipping officials, the state does not intend to file a criminal case immediately as MSC is a 'reputed company which patronises the Vizhinjam international seaport and the company requires the goodwill of Kerala for their operations here'. An FIR was registered by the Fort Kochi coastal police against the MSC vessel for rash navigation and negligent conduct involving transportation of poisonous substances only on June 11, two weeks after the ship capsized. Lack of protocol, inefficient PCB: Activists Despite building a great deal of infrastructure around the two major ports of Cochin and Vizhinjam, the state government has failed in developing a protocol to tackle marine pollution when shipping accidents occur, said Sridhar Ramakrishnan, an environmental observer. 'In 2015-16, there was an effort by the State to develop a protocol for marine pollution. It was supposed to be done by the state Pollution Control Board (PCB). At the time, they called for tenders and expert teams to develop the protocol. But nothing has happened. They sat on it. As a result, the State didn't know how to handle the situation initially (when the MSC vessel sank),' said Ramakrishnan. The environmentalist said the PCB even initially said the plastic nurdles were 'harmless' and did not consider the marine pollution impact. 'It shows how bad our institutions are. We have a useless PCB whose officials have not been pulled up by the State for their inefficiencies,' he said. Harish Vasudevan, a lawyer intervening in environmental issues in the high court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), called the PCB a 'white elephant' which was not being made accountable for the pollution caused on the state's coast. 'When will the PCB improve? It must be taught a lesson. Why does the PCB not have a protocol or SoP to use when such accidents happen?' Vasudevan asked in a Facebook post. Questions regarding the steps taken so far to tackle marine pollution in the backdrop of the two shipping accidents were emailed to the PCB but no one responded till the filing of this report.
