January 19 - PHILIPPINES - An oil spill coming from a diving boat that ran aground at the Apo Manor Reef in December, a protected marine park off Mindoro Island, is threatening to destroy one of the world’s best dive sites. Residents of Barangay Siblayan in Occidental Mindoro, a nearby coastal town, said that the M/V Island Explorer has started to leak bunker fuel, endangering the reef which serves as a fish nursery and the major source of livelihood of the surrounding communities. The surrounding waters are abundant with marine fauna and luxuriant coral growth with more than 500 coral species. Marine life includes sharks, stingrays and manta rays.
January 20 - NORWAY - A large oil spill has started spreading from the capsized cargo vessel "Rocknes", that spilled several thousand litres of oil and bunker fuel along the coastline near the city of Bergen. Close to a thousand seabirds have already been found dead or dying, and clean-up crews are working day and night to clean up affected coastlines and prevent the slick from spreading further. However, due to the immediate search and rescue work that prevented the oil spill response activities from commencing, thick patches of oil have already drifted beyond the reach of the highly sophisticated and efficient Norwegian oil spill response vessels and their equipment.
March 4 - CHINA - Nearly one million people in south-western Sichuan province were without water for drinking and bathing, after chemicals spilled from a factory into an important Yangtze river tributary, state media said. The authorities shut down water supplies after a mixture of synthetic ammonia and nitrogen from the Sichuan General Chemical Factory leaked into the Tuo river in the densely populated province, the Shanghai Morning Post reported. Water supplies for four residential areas - Jianyang, Zizhong, Neijiang and Luzhou - were severely polluted, and could remain cut for several days, the report said.
October 2 - INDONESIA - An oil spill has swamped a chain of tourist islands off the coast of the Indonesian capital, polluting a marine park and hitting businesses in the area, officials and media reports said. Oil began leaking in the region known as the Thousand Islands, and government officials said the spill may have been caused by leaking oil pipes operated nearby by China National Offshore Oil Corp, or by a mishap loading oil onto tankers. The islands have been hit by at least five oil spills in the past year, driving occupancy rates at some resorts to just about 30 per cent, according to Jakarta Tourism Agency. The oil slick has also hurt fishermen and seaweed farmers in the area, officials said.
October 14 - USA - Emergency crews scrambled to control a massive south Sound oil spill that soiled portions of Tacoma's Commencement Bay and stretched for miles in a bluish-black sheen, threatening pristine beaches and wildlife on Maury and Vashon islands. "We have a major oil spill on our hands," said the spokesman for the state Department of Ecology. "This is a very large, very complex spill." Officials didn't know where it came from, who was responsible or exactly how much oil had been spilled.
November 18 - BRAZIL - Workers are rushing to avert an environmental disaster as an oil slick spread from a cargo ship that exploded and broke in half at a port in southern Brazil. Workers found dead fish and dolphins in the toxic slick of fuel oil, diesel fuel and methanol that leaked from the ship. The slick, which blackened rocks and beaches, stretched for more than 20 kilometres from the port of Paranagua, 625 kilometres south-west of Rio de Janeiro. Environmental officials indefinitely banned many maritime activities and grounded the area's 3000 fishermen.
November 21 - CANADA - Scientists warn the 44,000 gallon oil spill at an oil platform off Canada's Newfoundland province could kill up to 100,000 seabirds. The spill, coming at a bad time for the birds, occurred at the Terra Nova offshore oil platform as a result of a malfunction. A few days laster, the slick covered at least 14 square miles. The birds at risk include turrs, dovekeys and black-legged kittiwakes, as well as migrating birds such as shearwaters.
November 26 - USA - A tanker has spilled what was initially estimated as appr. 30,000 gallons of crude oil into the Delaware River between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, immediately creating a 20-mile slick that threatened fish and birds. But authorities later estimated that it could be as much as 475,000 gallons, leaving a gooey mess that has stained 70 miles of shoreline across three states. More than 1,000 cleanup and emergency responders were called in to skim oil from the surface of the water, and place thousands of feet of barriers to contain the floating slick.
December 7 - CHINA - A collision between two container ships near the mouth of South China's Pearl River has caused the region's biggest oil spill in five years. Nearly 450 tonnes are said to have been spilled. Oil was mainly leaking from the fuel tanks of the MSC Ilona, that caused a slick about 17 kilometers long and up to several hundred meters wide. Eight decontamination ships from Guangdong Province are on the spot to deal with the leaking oil, while divers have been dispatched to plug the leak.
December 10 - USA - Thousands of gallons of fuel oil spilling out of a Malaysian freighter that snapped in two off the US state of Alaska have put the Aleutian islands' fragile ecosystem in jeopardy, fueling fears of an environmental crisis 15 years after the Exxon Valdez disaster. The Selendang Ayu's 480,000-gallon (1.8 million-litre) stock of thick fuel was leaking into the water off Unalaska Island, killing cormorants and marine life and leaving a thick and dark coating on beaches. Wildlife in the area includes endangered or threatened species such as Steller sea lions and Steller's eiders as well as western Alaska sea otters, the population of which is dwindling.
December 20 - EGYPT - An oil slick in the Suez Canal is threatening to reach the Mediterranean, port sources said. The spill was caused by a leak in a Kuwaiti tanker carrying 160,000 tonnes of crude, after it collided with a dredger further south on December 14. The slick has tripled in size over a week and now measures around 34 miles (55 kilometres) in length, the source said, adding that about 10,000 cubic metres (2.2 million gallons) had been lost from the tanker. Several aquatic species are threatened by the contamination, and foreign officials charge that the Egyptian authorities have no adequate strategy to face such environmental threats and lack means to combat them.
