More than 2,500 families that live in the fishing villages of the Miranda Municipality in Falcón State, and that depend on the marine diversity of the “Golfete de Coro” were left without a livelihood. Since 2020 accidents in the oil industry have intensified in this important fishing area. This has caused substantial damage to the seabed. So far, 34 oil spills and 15 gas leaks have been recorded, and of the latter there has been an active leak for a year that PDVSA has not been able to repair.
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Many fishing families have migrated to other towns such as Zazárida and Buchivacoa to be able to continue fishing, although this creates problems among fishermen’s councils, because they are invading each others production areas.
Wilmer Quintero, spokesman for the affected communities: El Cocuy, Venezuela and Colombia neighborhoods, Cocorote, Cauca, Guarajacume and Matica de Yabo, all located in Río Seco, explained that so far this year there have been 10 oil spills and one of the gas leaks that is already a year old, because they have not been able to repair it.
He assured that there are more than 750 kilometers of affected coastline, which results in no production. “Currently, the fishermen of Río Seco don’t even have enough to buy a package of flour, because production is at zero. We have to migrate to other areas using only the gasoline they give us which is 120 liters a week, and the boats are in poor condition, because they haven’t been able to put even a little paint on them,” he said.
Spills and gas leaks increased as of September 13th, 2020 and since then PDVSA has only complied with plugging the leaks, but does not clean up the contaminated areas which has resulted in the death of the seabed.
The inhabitants of Río Seco lived mainly by catching shrimp in Punta Maraguey, but after the spills this species gradually disappeared. They remember that every day each boat collected between 15 and 10 kilos of prawns, now they return with empty baskets.
Petitions have not been heard
A group of these fishermen have spent weeks in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, where they have gone to present the problem of the “Golfete de Coro” before different public institutions, such as the National Assembly, the Ministry of the Environment, PDVSA and PDVSA Gas, but to date they have not had any positive response.
That is why the people of Río Seco interrupted the first stage of the works to replace a 35-kilometer section of the gas pipeline, which crosses the Golfete de Coro, to the Cardón IV joint venture project, in which are part the foreign oil companies Repsol and Eni.
With reports and details of the situation that Río Seco is going through due to environmental contamination, they are asking for the cleanup of the Golfete de Coro, the closure of oil lines 1 and 3, as well as compensation for the families affected by the ecocide. However, they have gone to all instances and have not received any answers.
“Everything is a merry go round, come again tomorrow, and again Monday to Friday and we have not been taken into account, while our people starve while waiting for solutions,” said Nelio Medina, also a spokesman for the fishermen of Río Seco.
Faced with this situation, they have declared Río Seco and their families in a state of emergency. If there are no proposals for a solution, the residents as a protest will take the Falcón-Zulia national highway next Monday, May 22th, as a measure of pressure.
Environmental importance
The Golfete de Coro is located between the western coast of the Falcon marine coast itself and the isthmus of the dunes, between the points of Cardón and Maraguey. It contains a wetland with a large biological reserve that also serves as a refuge for migratory birds from around the world.
Gas and oil pipelines cross this important seabed, which carry supplies to the Amuay and Cardón refineries, and to the Cardón IV mixed company, which produces and exports gas. Some pipes are up to 70 years old, when their useful life is a maximum of 50 years.
Obsolescence and the lack of preventive maintenance in the oil and gas pipelines have been the triggers for the continuous pollution of the last three years and which, according to the fishermen, has destroyed a large part of the marine ecosystem from Río Seco to Punta Cardón, directly affecting some 5,000 families from the Miranda, Carirubana and Los Taques municipalities. Indirectly, these spills end up affecting the entire coastal axis that lives from fishing by encouraging the forced migration of sea workers.
The Venezuelan Observatory of Political Ecology of Venezuela published a report which details that from January to December 2022, 86 oil spills were reported, including gas leaks in PDVSA gas pipelines.
By November 30th, 2022, 77 spills had already been registered, while for the same period in 2021, 73 events were registered. All this indicates that the number of spill reports increased in 2022.
The spills occurred in Carabobo, Delta Amacuro, Monagas, Portuguesa, Falcón, Anzoátegui and Zulia, these last three entities being the ones that present constant spills throughout the year.