Puerto Viejo bay reports mass fish deaths and suspected oil spill

Environmental organizations have reported a mass mortality of fish and other marine species in the Puerto Viejo bay within the Azua Wildlife Refuge in the Dominican Republic. Witnesses reported seeing a black stain covering an area between 4 and 5 kilometers, suggesting a potential fuel spill.

Local community leaders and environmental groups, including the National Committee to Fight Climate Change (CNLCC) and the Institute of Lawyers for Environmental Protection (INSAPROMA), have called for an immediate investigation by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. They have identified four electric power generation barges owned by the Turkish company Karadeniz Powership, along with four other vessels, as suspects in the incident. The organizations are demanding that these vessels be prohibited from leaving the port until investigations are completed.

This follows a similar event in June 2023, where authorities attributed fish mortality to rainwater runoff rather than a spill, despite community claims of contamination from the same power barges.