English
The Kyowa Violet was a general cargo vessel and on 26 December 2002, it was making a scheduled stop at Colina, State of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. The captain had prior experience entering the harbour and deliberately remained close to the North side of the channel, to avoid hazardous shoals on the Southern side, which were caused by the currents and wind conditions on the day.
The ship’s navigational equipment clearly showed the reef, however the ship struck coral several times, rupturing the ships double bottom and depositing oil into the harbour.
Upon exiting the harbour the ship continued to leak oil outside of Yap’s territorial waters. The oil spill impacted the enire coastline of the inner reef area from Colonia to the tip of Gilman Municipality peninsula.
Upon receiving news of the spillage, both the wowners of the ship, Pacific Line Trading and its charterer, Kyowa Shipping, sent a clean up effort to Yap.
The clean up effort ended on 3 February 2004, however not all mangrove areas could be cleaned due to fears of doing further damage. Kyowa Shipping also implemented and funded monitoring programs by which the condition of the natural resources is assessed at certain intervals. This monitoring work is ongoing and paid for by Kyowa Shipping.
The court found that approximately 1436 square meters of reef was damaged and approximately 60,000 square metres of mangroves were oiled to varying degrees by the incident. There was also an adverse impact on fisherman,who could no longer use the inner Reef to obtain food and substance. When the initial ban on fishing was removed, fisherman reported significant drops in catches.
The plaintiff was awarded $2,950,638 in damages for the damaged reef, oiled mangroves, and lost fisheries and access to swim and bathe, with a rate of nine per cent simple interest thereon from December 30, 2002. The plaintiffs were also awarded costs.
The plaintiff was unsuccessful on seeking damages for Chiefs’ diverted services, which referred the to the value of the services of the chiefs that had to be diverted to dealing with the oil spill away from other community problems. The court also refused to accept the plaintiff’s argument surrounding mental anguish.
(Summary provided by Cloe Foyster from the Queensland University of Technology)