Produção Nacional
Revisado por pares
Artisanal fishers, consumers and the environment: immediate consequences of the oil spill in Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil
2020; Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz; Volume: 36; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1590/0102-311x00230319
ISSN1678-4464
AutoresMaria Elisabeth de Araújo, Cristiano Wellington Noberto Ramalho, Paulo Wanderley de Melo,
Tópico(s)Oil Spill Detection and Mitigation
ResumoIn August 2019, the Brazilian Northeast coast was hit by the largest environmental disaster caused by oil spill (petroleum) in its history, with the first record (30th) in Paraíba 1 .Since then, the leak has spread to over 70% of the 3,300 kilometers of other northeastern states, reaching almost 500 locations in early November 2 .Until late November, assumptions regarding the source of the leak have not yet been confirmed by the government.According to Santos et al. 3 , major offshore hydrocarbon oil transportation routes pass by reef environments.Large freighters carry more than 2x10 6 tons across the world, representing a high risk of oil leakage in and around this particular ecosystem.Crude oil is a mixture of thousands of molecules and several concurrent processes occur when it comes into contact with seawater.Smaller molecules (higher volatility such as benzene, toluene and xylene) tend to evaporate rapidly into the atmosphere within the first week.Simultaneously, solubilization, dispersion in the water column and spreading by currents and tides are initiated.Moreover, the processes of emulsification ("water in oil" type mousse), biodegradation, photochemical oxidation and sedimentation also occur 4 .These pollutants include aromatic and aliphatic compounds and may contain heavy metals among other substances extremely harmful to human health 5 . Volunteers and contamination of fishing resourcesAs the terrifying and unexpected stains and waves of crude oil hit the beaches, several Northeastern volunteers acted spontaneously, individually and collectively, and were driven by humanitarian and environmental forces to clean the beaches (Figure 1).They were fishers, residents, students, businessmen, tourists, surfers; all exposed to these products and risking their health.In the early days, when these pollutants first arrived on the coast, most of these people had no knowledge of how to deal with such disaster, there was no guidance from brigade members, nor they had access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).To assist the volunteers, several centers donating PPE equipment, water and food were set up in universities and in the affected locations.Professional oil cleaning methods applied on the Spanish Galician coast 6 , are radically opposed to the amateurism found here.This catastrophe is extremely serious and an emergency to public health and to the environment, and anyone who has had contact with these chemicals should be monitored as indicated by Artisanal fishers, consumers and the environment: immediate consequences of the oil spill in Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil Pescadores artesanais, consumidores e meio ambiente: consequências imediatas do vazamento de petróleo no Estado de Pernambuco, Nordeste do Brasil Pescadores artesanales,
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