Explosions at Sea

I was so saddened when I heard that a ship had been blown up in the Indian Ocean by the Kenya Navy as a result of the president’s directive, after it had been found with drugs, in August 2014. It had 373.8Kgs of heroin valued at Kes. 1.3billion. Another yacht, found with 7.6Kgs of heroin valued at Kes.22 million, was also blown up in 2015.This was done 30km from the shore, in an effort to demonstrate that Kenya was against drug trafficking.

To this day in October 2016, I try to imagine the situation in which the ocean creatures found themselves in. They were definitely caught off-guard by the explosions. The deafening blast must have thrown them into confusion. I could picture them screaming and scampering for safety. They immediately felt that they were under attack. To them, this might have felt like a terrorist attack. Without a doubt, they must have been scared. The metals must have gone tumbling down, slicing some of them into pieces, crushing the heads of others while squeezing life out of other creatures at the bottom of the ocean as they sank.

I only hoped that that particular ship did not have diesel engines; oil pollution is another disaster. Clogged gills may not effectively take up oxygen. Imagine dead fish floating on the waters of Indian Ocean. This brings a further imbalance to that ecosystem.

The heroine must have polluted the water such that the creatures could not see their way around. As it dissolved, the creatures must have experienced, for hours what it means by being ‘high’. This might have tormented them because it definitely altered their way of life. They must have experienced intense behavioral changes. The very high dosage of heroine must have killed some of them.

For fishermen who venture out to the deep ocean, this translates to less fish caught, low business and a difficult life. It also affects the economy of the coastal communities who might be depending entirely on this particular economic activity. For the final consumer, the heroin residues ingested by the fish might still be present at the time of consumption.

The best way to get rid of the heroin could have been to put it in an incinerator and burn it up and maybe impound the ship and the yacht. This way, we could not have interfered with the lives of the defenseless creatures in the ocean and our own lives as well. They may not stand up to defend themselves but we are stewards of the environment so we ought to know how well to dispose items rather than cause harm. We ought to let them enjoy the clean waters they have often had. We just have to find alternatives because when we don’t, the effects still trickle down to us, however much we feel we did it far away in the ocean. With the alternatives, everyone will be happy and healthy; from the sea creatures, to us and we’ll have a better economy.