Shipwreck Spills Oil, Plastic & Legal Loopholes

As shiny, pearl-like white plastic pellets rode wave after wave and piled up on the beaches of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, local residents were first bemused, then baffled. Some, more enterprising than others, began collecting them in sacks with help from the local police — a first step in heading off what many fear could potentially become an environmental “catastrophe”.

While the oil slick from the MSC ELSA-3 — a Liberia-flagged cargo vessel that sank off the Kerala coast in late May — was reportedly contained in a few days, it marked only the beginning of an unfolding environmental disaster. Within days, the scale of the crisis began to surface — quite literally. Plastic pellets, dirty debris, sacks, and beams of wood began washing ashore. Containers were found along the coast, with some even catching fire in Kollam district.

Plastic pellets, also known as nurdles, began washing up along Kerala’s southern beaches and drifting steadily towards the shores of Kanyakumari. Experts were able to spot and contain the patches of oil slick. “That the oil spill is only in patches, not continuous, is a feat,” media reports quoted defence officials in Kochi as saying, referring to the swift containment efforts by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.

Scientists, however, raised red flags about submerged containers believed to be carrying hazardous materials such as calcium carbide and marine fuel oil. Calcium carbide reacts with water, producing acetylene — a flammable and potentially explosive gas, especially in confined spaces.

“They initially said it was diesel, furnace oil and calcium carbide. When the containers reached shore, there were multiple materials in them. The first issue is that there is no transparency in the data about what is there in the containers,” says A. Bijukumar, a leading aquatic biologist and the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS).

“They successfully contained the oil pollution, but that is only the leakage from the fuel tank or the engine, which means the remaining oil containers could still be in the deep, and not yet leaked,” he informs Mongabay India. “There is also talk about ‘hazardous waste’; it is not mentioned what it is. It keeps the scientific community puzzled. Then came the plastic nurdles — they have choked up coasts and coastal waters.”

The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) issued a public warning, prompting the state government to declare the incident a state-specific disaster that warrants emergency funding and multi-agency responses.

The state government also released a book on guidelines for responding to plastic pellet pollution. Prepared by the State Disaster Management Authority, based on an existing work by the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited (ITOPF), the book covers various aspects including the collection and disposal of plastic pellets as well as methods used in other countries to handle such situations.

Moved by the monsoon

One of the most immediate concerns is the timing of the disaster. As the southwest monsoon intensifies, clean-up operations become difficult.

“Large monsoon waves often breach sea walls and deposit plastic pellets on the inhabited parts of the shore,” warns K.V. Thomas, a former National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) scientist in Thiruvananthapuram who has extensively studied sediment transport and monsoon dynamics.

“Some pellets will be buried under sand, some washed back into the sea, and others may drift to distant shores. After a few days, beaches may look clean — but these hidden nurdles may resurface in August or September when sand shifts again,” he points out.

The absence of immediate, detailed information about the vessel’s cargo has hampered a coordinated risk response, experts warn. Bijukumar underscores the need for a clear standard operating procedure (SOP) for marine cargo accidents involving plastics. “We have protocols for oil pollution,” he says. “But not for plastics — especially micro- and nanoplastics. That gap is dangerous.”

Marine biotechnologist Amruth P., assistant professor at Christ University, Bengaluru, echoes these concerns and outlines the dual environmental threat of oil spills and plastic pollution.

“The recent incident is a stark reminder of the fragile balance of our marine ecosystems,” Amruth says. “This is deeply concerning — not only because of its immediate impact but also because of the invisible, long-term damage to biodiversity and coastal livelihoods.”

While oil spill introduces toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that interfere with marine species’ growth and reproduction, the plastic spill adds a chronic, slow-building crisis in the ecosystem.

Chain reaction of impacts

“Plastic pollution is the silent catastrophe that often goes unnoticed in the wake of a dramatic oil spill,” Amruth notes.

The danger is particularly high in sensitive ecosystems like mangroves, coral reefs, estuaries, and seagrass beds. “These are critical nurseries and carbon sinks,” he says, adding: “Their degradation not only reduces biodiversity but also weakens the ocean’s ability to buffer climate change.”

These plastic nurdles, now drifting southward, can accumulate algae and other materials before settling on the seabed and entering the marine food web — starting with plankton and moving up through fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, Bengaluru-based Greenpeace campaigner Amruta S. N. highlights.

“As they break down over time into micro- and nano-plastics, they pose a risk of entering seafood supplies,” Amruth says. “Once ingested, their physical presence of microplastics can cause internal injuries, reduce feeding efficiency, and disrupt reproduction in numerous species. Moreover, plastics act as vectors for invasive species and pathogens, further disturbing ecosystem balance,” he adds.

As scientists sound the alarm, legal experts are critical of the loopholes in India’s maritime regulatory framework. “This incident raises serious legal and environmental concerns under both national legislation and the international Law of the Sea,” says Sachin Menon, an expert of international and maritime law at Christ University, Bengaluru.

Legal loopholes and flags of convenience

India’s Merchant Shipping Act, 1958  incorporates global conventions like the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). It enables India to enforce the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code, which governs how hazardous materials are classified, packaged, and transported by sea.

“The IMDG Code is binding on Indian-flagged vessels and foreign ships in Indian ports,” Menon points out. “Mishandled or undeclared dangerous goods can attract civil liability, port detention, and environmental penalties.”

He also highlights the broader responsibility of flag states — in this case, Liberia. A flag state is the country where a ship is registered, and whose laws it must follow wherever it sails. However, when the ship enters the territorial waters of a coastal state, it must follow the laws of that state as well.

Liberia is recognised as a Flag of Convenience (FOC), offering relaxed safety norms in exchange for shipping revenue. An FOC ship is one that is registered in a country other than the owner’s to avail of lax regulations, lower taxes, and/or weaker oversight. “The problem with FOC states,” Menon says, “is their lax enforcement. That can directly lead to marine casualties.”

Another relevant framework is the Basel Convention (1989), which prohibits illegal transboundary movement of hazardous waste. Under this, the shipowner bears strict liability for environmental harm.

India has also ratified the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks (2007), which assigns wreck removal responsibilities to the shipowner. However, Menon points out a critical disconnect: India still follows Part XIII of the Merchant Shipping Act, which delegates wreck removal to a government-appointed receiver. “That provision is outdated,” he says. He suggests that in this case, the government should impose liability for the cost of removing the wreck on the registered owner of the ship. “We need urgent legal reform to bring India in line with international wreck removal obligations.”

Science, governance and local action

While experts stress on early action to prevent long-term damage, deeper marine ecology studies and transparent information sharing — especially cargo manifests (a list of the cargo) — local communities are pushing for a better role in governing their ecosystems.

Fishers’ unions across Kerala have issued a strongly worded statement demanding transparency, accountability, and urgent relief. Led by the Kerala Fisheries Coordination Committee, the statement highlights immediate concerns and long-term demands, urging the state government and port authorities to address the cascading crises affecting the coastline, economy, and ecology. The unions called for a robust multi-agency environmental impact study. “We need a structured, science-based approach.”

“Thousands of families in Thiruvananthapuram district depend on the sea for their livelihoods,” says the committee convenor Charles George, in a social media message. “Plastic pellets and chemical residues are accumulating not just on beaches but also on the nearshore seabed — our primary fishing grounds.”

Beyond the immediate challenge of coastal clean-up, aquatic biologist Bijukumar has flagged broader and deeper concerns: risks to fishing livelihoods, poor scientific monitoring of India’s ocean zones, gaps in maritime legal frameworks, and questions about corporate accountability. “For dealing with oil spills, there is a well- established protocol, but with regard to the plastic, it is not there. We need to design one. We do not know to what extent the rocky reefs are covered with the plastic nurdles. They are going to be there for a long time. All this has to be monitored for a long time. There should be a consortium of institutions monitoring.”

Amruth favours a twin-track response: rapid detection and mitigation of potential oil spill through satellite surveillance and eco-friendly clean-up technologies, and longer-term, aggressive plastic regulation, including biodegradable alternatives, recycling systems, and microplastic detection research.

Meanwhile Kerala Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian reportedly said that the state government has taken all the necessary steps following the MSC Elsa-3 shipwreck. Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has launched a study to assess the ecosystem changes.

The Kerala government has also granted financial relief to fishermen in the four southern coastal districts impacted by restrictions following the shipwreck.

Many fishers took proactive steps early on. In Mariyanadu — a village in north-central Thiruvananthapuram founded by migrant fishers from further south — residents made local headlines by systematically collecting plastic pellets and selling them by the sackful to a nearby industrial estate.

“There was a government advisory, and they had police support — but they already knew what to do,” says Eugine David, a resident of a neighbouring village who documented the effort. Similar clean-up drives later spread along the coast, this time with proper safety measures in place.

(Published under Creative Commons from Mongabay India. Read the original article here)