So the last two posts gave us a brief description of where the Gulf of Paria is and what is an oil spill. This week we are going to speak on several oil spills that occurred in the Gulf over a period of three years. One of the biggest oil spills was on December 13th 2013 where approximately 236,250 gallons of oil was leaked out into the Gulf of Paria. What made it even worse was during that week there were about 10 minor spills as well totaling the number of oil spills to 11. Question is will the Gulf of Paria ever recover from that? According to the Express Newspapers dated August 5th 2016 state owned company Petrotrin began cleaning up oil stained water in the Gulf of Paria following reports of oil deposits at Mosquito Creek and beaches of the South Western Peninsular. Who is really affected by the oil spills? Is it the state owned company Petrotrin? Is it the residents in close proximity of the oil spills? Is it the fishermen or is it the organisms? Even though clean up attempts were made, the Gulf of Paria will never be the same. Possible and long effects are the composition of the water may be altered making it extremely difficult for some organisms to adapt causing death or migration. The nearby mangroves being harmed and not being able to carry out its role. These effects have a domino effect as an ecosystem have interdependent relationships thus as one level of the system is affected so will the other. 

As we can see the title of the blog says, Oil spills and fish kills in the Gulf of Paria. So tonight we are going to do some Geography. Gulf of Paria, an inlet of the Caribbean Sea, lying between Veneuela coast and Trinidad. Extending about 100 miles (160 km) east - west and 40 miles (65 km) north - south. It is linked with the Caribbean to the north by the strait called the Dragon's Mouths and with the Atlantic to the south by the Serpent's Mouth both roughly 10 miles (16 km) wide. Ports along the gulf including San Fernando and Port of Spain (Trinidad) Güiria, Irapa, and Pedernales(Venezuela) handle shipments of petroleum, iron ore, bauxite, lumber and agricultural products. Here is a map showing the the Gulf of Paria and its connection between Trinidad and Venezuela. Next post we will be speaking about the oil companies drilling for oil in the Gulf of Paria

Oil Spills are most often caused by accidents involving barges, pipelines, refineries, drilling rigs and storage facilities. These spills happen anywhere around the world and affect hundreds, thousands and even millions. Here is a video stating the 10 largest oil spills in history.