Green China

Villagers manage to rid sea of oil spill

By Zhu Chengpei and Zhang Xiaomin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-27 14:33

"Nobody wants to be covered in oil every day. It is really messy and uncomfortable," she added.

Drenched in crude oil, her trousers were sticking to her body and almost stuck to her water-proof shoes.

The first thing Li does on returning home is rush into the washroom and have several baths, first with a special detergent to remove the oil from her body, then with bath foam and clean water.

"My skin becomes itchy after every time I use the special detergent on my body. But there's no better way (to remove the oil)," she said, adding that she has to throw away her clothes, since the stubborn oil stains are impossible to remove.

Li has heard that she and her husband might get about 1,500 yuan ($220) for each day they joined in the cleanup, but she is not sure about the exact amount.

"Of course, we're doing this for money, but that's not the only reason," she said. "This is our home, and we depend on fishing for our bread and butter. We need to act to minimize the impact of the oil spill on our lives and livelihood."

A native of Anhui province who settled in the village of Dayugou with her husband three years ago, Li said she loves the free way of life of a fisherman and the fresh air, the white beach and the blue sea.

But when she first caught a glimpse of the sea on July 19, three days after the pipeline blast, she thought all the fish might die from the pollution.

"It was an appalling sight," she recalled. "Patches of thick oil were floating on the sea, and I couldn't spot the edge of it."

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Li and almost every one else in Dayugou village didn't think twice before joining in the effort to clean up the spill, the worst ever in the country, that had contaminated a sea area of 50 square km.

Quite to her relief, Li hasn't seen many dead fish, thanks to the immediate cleanup effort that involved some 40 professional vessels and more than 1,000 fishing boats working at least 10 hours a day.

"We still have to wait and see till the start of September, when the three-month fishing off season ends," she said.

"If the fishing is no good, maybe we will have to leave the village and find other ways to make a living."