Friday, June 26, 2009
When is a tiny mysterious island bigger than just a “speck” of earth in the ocean? When that speck sits atop huge oil reserves, say officials in Mexico. The long lost Isla Bermeja has been the focus of an intense search by scientists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, because if it does exist, the Mexican government could then extend its territorial claim further into the Gulf of Mexico and draw more oil from beneath the sea floor. Back in 2000, the United States and Mexico signed the “Doughnut Hole” treaty to protect Gulf oil deposits located outside the 200 nautical mile limits of each country. But that treaty expires next year, giving urgency to Mexico’s effort to find Bermeja.
So far Mexican oceanographers and other scientists have found no trace of Bermeja after utilizing underwater sensing devices and aerial reconnaissance. The only maps showing the island’s existence date back to the 1700s, and those indicate it should be found off the northwest coast of the Yucatan peninsula. Scientists intend to continue their search in other areas of the Gulf, although some believe Bermeja may have become submerged.
If this is true, conspiracy theorists like to blame the U.S. for Bermeja’s demise. “There are some who say the United States bombed it,” says journalist Carlos Loret. “Others say it was sunk by global warming, and others think it was an earthquake.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Study: No Signs of Island That Could Extend Mexico's Offshore Oil Claims (by Mark Stevenson, Associated Press)
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