SIUMU, Samoa (AP) — Under clear skies shortly after sunrise in the seaside fishing village of Siumu, Samoa, on Tuesday, a dozen men and children prepared their small boats for a day at sea. But underwater, a kilometer and a half from the coast, lies the imposing form of a sunken New Zealand navy ship, forcing them to travel further to fish than before.
They had returned from Monday’s trip a few hours earlier.
The village, adorned with Samoan and British flags, is in full preparation to welcome King Charles III and Queen Camilla when the royal family arrives on Wednesday for a biennial meeting of leaders from 56 Commonwealth countries. This is the first time that a Pacific island country has hosted this event.
But Siumu was already busy. New Zealand and Samoan authorities have been working for weeks on miles of neighboring coastline to monitor and limit environmental damage caused by the sinking of the HMNZS Manawanui, which ran aground on the reef, caught fire and sank early in the month.
All 75 people on board the specialist diving and hydrography vessel – one of nine New Zealand Navy vessels – were safely evacuated.
Early fears of a catastrophic fuel spill were later dismissed by authorities who said oil had not gushed from the ship when it sank. But many people living in Siumu and surrounding villages fear damage to the reef from the wreck could threaten their long-term survival.
“I don’t know when everything will be beautiful again and return to normal like before,” said Netina Malae, who temporarily closed her small resort in nearby Tafitoala. The colorful fales, or huts, lining the beach are empty.
Recovery efforts on the reef focused on removing three large shipping containers left after the sinking, one of them loaded with food. The New Zealand military hoped to float the last one, empty and damaged, to shore on Tuesday, although winds and tides threatened to thwart their efforts.
Meanwhile, fishermen who once spent their days where the boat sank are facing longer and more expensive journeys, they told The Associated Press.
“We doubled the amount of gasoline to go far away to get fish,” Faalogo Afereti Taliulu said, citing the Samoan government’s advice that seafood from the area around the sunken ship should not be eaten. “That’s why it’s our concern.” This affects us financially.
Taliulu and others from the village of Upolu, Samoa’s largest island, fish primarily for tuna. It’s their biggest industry and a family affair.
His cousin, Taula Fagatuai, said currents and tides meant fishermen were unsure whether seafood they caught further than the exclusion zone was safe to eat. The impact on the fragile marine ecosystem of damage caused by the ship, its anchor chain and shipping containers is not yet clear.
“This boat will destroy our reef,” Fagatuai said.
Some residents of Siumu and surrounding villages are urging the New Zealand government to provide compensation for lost income, but a quick solution is unlikely. The cause of the ship’s sinking is unknown and a commission of inquiry has been created to investigate this episode.
The amount of fuel escaping from the ship is another controversial issue. New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Collins said last week that a residual “trickle” of diesel from the ship was rapidly evaporating from the ocean surface. She said the amount of fuel spilled into the ocean was less than reported by Samoan authorities and that much of what the ship was carrying had burned in the fire.
Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa assured reporters last week that there was “no evidence of a leak” in the ship’s main tanks.
But how much diesel leaked from the ship when it sank is not known, Commodore Andrew Brown, New Zealand’s senior national representative in Samoa, told the AP on Tuesday. Recovering the remaining fuel from the sunken ship was “a priority,” he added.
There are no plans yet to remove the ship from its resting place.
The sheen of diesel on the water’s surface and its movement in currents are observed daily, Brown said. “We also monitor the coastline.”
Officials from both countries said there was no visible damage to Samoa’s beaches or wildlife. But some residents of surrounding villages, who say they have encountered oil in the water and seen it cover people or fish, are not reassured.
“My children went to the spot where they surf. And when they came back, they said there was oil everywhere,” Malae said. “And then I touched their bodies – slippery from the oil. So I’m sure that oil was there.
The disaster occurred as Samoa prepared to welcome the British royal family – who will stay at a resort near the fishing village of Siumu – and other world leaders to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting. Meetings between civil society leaders have already begun, with an official opening ceremony planned for Friday.
But uncertainty over the impact of the sunken ship reduced tourism opportunities during the event. Malae usually takes visitors out to sea for fishing or surfing trips or to watch turtles. Now, she says, “everything is stopped.”
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Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.
