St Kitts and Nevis Better Prepared to Respond to Oil Spills

(ZIZ)– Local officials are now in a better position to respond and coordinate response in the event of a major oil spill in the federation’s territorial waters.

Officials directly linked to the protection of the federation’s marine resources completed a three-day workshop on Thursday dubbed, “Oil Spill Preparedness, Response and Cooperation Workshop.”

Workshop participant and Senior Safety Security Officer for Port Zante, Austin Buchanan says this workshop highlighted how limited St Kitts and Nevis is with respect to training to deal with these types of situations.

He says, “This is the fetus stage where we can now take all the information we gathered, put a proper working team together and then disseminate all the information and pass it on to the necessary organizations and move forward from there.”

Buchanan also noted that one of the most standout points coming out of the workshop was the impact an oil spill can have on the ecosystem, adding, “It would be devastating. It would take a serious toll on our hotels; our tourism; our beaches and our reefs and it will cost us financially.”

The last recorded oil spill in St Kitts and Nevis’ waters took place in 1991.