The wreck of the so-called Gulfstream on our southwest coast is likely a zombie sent to test Tobago’s adaptive capacity in case there was ever a ‘big’ spill. Don’t get me wrong, the ongoing event is the real thing – There is black, brownish very goo-ey oil-like substance oozing out of the hull and in the nearshore area, marine interests and coastal ecosystems are suffering.

First though let’s sort this zombie business. Software engineers that is hackers of computer systems use a bombardment tool to test the ability of a network to fend off – you guessed it, hackers. In pretty much the same way, if we look for the silver lining in the Gulfstream cloud – still ominously looming over Tobago, last week’s visitation by the dead (but still hauling oil) Gulfstream, provides a perfect test of this island’s capacity to deal with hazards that come from being in an oil spill zone.

But just how exposed are we? One might say Very. Trinidad and Tobago’s that is our own oil fields, lie all around Tobago. As concerns the active, producing blocks on the current or risky side are just sixty miles away; up-current. Further south there are the burgeoning prospects in Guyana. Immediately after, still looking south, also washed by the Guyanas Current, are the active fields of Suriname.

As with any zombie conflict, you’d want to ensure your assets are protected. In Tobago’s Gulfstream case those have been identified as its coastal zone; taken to include the mangrove forest system of Petit Trou, the sea floor, seawater column and the sea surface of the near shore zone in the affected locale.

The weapons needed to ward of the zombie/Gulfstream threat are the usual; booms, skimmers, dispersants and protective gear for the people going into the zones itself. Also classed as weaponry but probably better described as logistical support (for deploying aforementioned tools of war) are the vessels, tractors, trucks and the myriad list that gets runaway hydrocarbon pulled, pushed, lifted and washed.

The biggest asset though is the same as with any war; people. Live thinking people are going to be needed to fend off the zombie that is runaway oil. I’ll come to that.