Oil spill potentially linked to Hormuz attacks threatens Pakistan's only protected marine island

Days after plaguing Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar coast, an oil spill — likely from tankers hit by the US and Iranian strikes in and around the Strait of Hormuz — has now reached the country’s only protected marine island, posing a serious threat to its rich but fragile biodiversity, an official told Anadolu on Tuesday.

A thick layer of crude oil has already covered a vast stretch of the southwestern Gwadar coast and penetrated sensitive zones, with authorities struggling to clean up the shoreline.

“The issue is expanding and getting more serious,” Abdul Rahim, a marine scientist associated with the Gwadar Development Authority, told Anadolu, confirming that the oil spill has reached Astola Island.

Located in the northern part of the Arabian Sea, east of the Pasni district in the southwestern Balochistan province, Astola is the country’s largest offshore island and the only marine protected area known for its rich marine biodiversity.

The island is one of the world’s largest breeding sites for the yellow-billed tern, a small seabird found in Latin America, and supports a wide variety of water birds such as coursers, gulls and plovers.

Fearing that the oil slick could cause significant harm to the island’s unique biodiversity, Rahim said that the latest development, reported over the past 24 hours, is a continuation of the Gwadar coast incident.