A Race Against Time to Save Oiled Penguins
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLFResponders to a shipwreck and oil spill off a remote South Atlantic archipelago are in a “race against time” to save thousands of endangered penguins that have been coated in crude, local officials said Thursday.
Hundreds of oiled-soaked rockhopper penguins have been recovered from Nightingale Island, part of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, where a large freighter ran aground last week, spilling roughly 1,600 tons of heavy fuel oil into the surrounding waters, Sean Burns, the islands’ administrator, said in a statement.
The birds have been collected and transferred to the archipelago’s main island, but rehabilitation efforts have been hampered by a lack of cleaning supplies and equipment, Mr. Burns said. Only one response ship has arrived on the scene from South Africa, and the departure of a second, better-equipped ship has not yet been confirmed.
Tristan da Cunha, a British territory, is one of the most isolated archipelagos in the world and the journey by sea takes between four to six days. The islands have no airport.
“A crucial next step is to confirm a second vessel to depart from Cape Town in the next few days with all the necessary equipment and supplies to clean up the birds, keep them healthy and hopefully return them to the ocean,” Mr. Burns said. “It will be a race against time,” he said.
John Cooper, an information officer for a conservation group monitoring the situation, said the captured penguins could not be fed until a shipment of frozen fish arrived on the second response vessel.
Andrew Gurr, governor of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, said in a statement that the Tristan government “is committed to ensuring that the ship’s owners will meet the full cost of any clean-up, damage or subsequent losses arising from the situation.”
A wildlife expert on the scene suggested this week that as many as 20,000 rockhopper penguins across several islands may have been affected by oil, but those numbers remain a preliminary estimate and have not been confirmed. Island officials and a wildlife organization participating in the clean-up did not respond to a request for comment on the situation. Other species have also been oiled, including giant petrels and fur seal pups, though the penguins seem to be the primary victims of the spill.
The rockhopper penguin is listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and roughly 40 percent of the known population is found on the Tristan da Cunha archipelago.
The heavy oil slick once observed to be surrounding Nightingale Island appears to have significantly dissipated, potentially lowering the risk for extensive additional oiling of wildlife, observers said. Most of the oil within the wrecked vessel, the MS Oliva, also appears to have already have entered the sea.
Globules of crude and patches of diesel continue to be observed floating on the water and on the islands’ beaches, however, and responders are working to keep penguins and other wildlife from entering the water.
Andrew Evans, a correspondent with National Geographic, captured the devastation in a story, video and photographs posted online.
“Ecological disaster is not the story I wanted to send from this place, but it’s the one that is happening here right now,” Mr. Evans wrote. “It was a painful and disturbing scene,” he said. “My only consolation is that the people of Tristan take their birds very seriously and the entire island is contributing to the rescue efforts.”
Source
7 / 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Nightingale Island Oil Spill
Posted by Andrew Evans of National Geographic Traveler March 23, 2011 
Oil-soaked rockhopper penguins
14 / 20
Nightingale Island
Highest point on Nightingale Island (337 m; 1,106 ft), South Atlantic (Andrew Evans, National Geographic)
15 / 20
Inaccessible Island
The fuel oil is spreading towards faraway Inaccessible Island (left). Nigtingale Island, South Atlantic (Andrew Evans, National Geographic)
16 / 20
Oil-soaked rockhopper penguins
Another oil-soaked northern rockhopper penguins Nightingale Island, South Atlantic (Andrew Evans, National Geographic)
17 / 20
Polluted penguins
Oil-polluted penguins preen on Nightingale Island, South Atlantic (Andrew Evans, National Geographic)
18 / 20
MV Oliva
On March 16th, the MV Oliva crashed on Nightingale Island, spilling 800 tons of fuel oil into the South Atlantic (Andrew Evans, National Geographic)
19 / 2
MV Oliva close up
The fuel spill from the MV Oliva threatens bird life on Nightingale Island, South Atlantic (Andrew Evans, National Geographic)
20 / 20
Nightingale Island
Prior to last week's oil spill, Nightingale Island was considered one of the most pristine islands in the world. (Andrew Evans, National Geographic)
UPDATE: Watch my recent video from Nightingale Island.
Ecological disaster is not the story I wanted to send from this place, but it’s the one that is happening here right now.
I sailed to the Tristan Da Cunha island group because I was following a lifelong dream. The remotest set of inhabited islands in the world promised serenity, calm and safety from the ills and pollution that plague other parts of the world. Alas, even those distant problems found their way to these pristine shores in the South Atlantic.
A week ago today, (March 16), the MV Oliva (Valetta) crashed on the rocks of Nightingale Island, spilling its cargo of soybeans and some 800 tons of fuel oil onto the coast. The ship was crossing the Atlantic from Brazil to Singapore when for reasons still unknown, it hit the island’s coast at a speed of 14 knots.
The captain and all crew escaped the vessel, but by last Saturday the ship had begun to break up in the heavy surf. The oil slick had spread around the island and then out to sea in the direction of Inaccessible Island.
Our ship, the MV National Geographic Explorer arrived at Tristan Da Cunha yesterday and sailed to Nightingale Island this morning, as intended on our original itinerary with Lindblad Expeditions. Instead of mere bird watching, we were met with the disturbing sight of penguins and seals coated in sticky black oil.
Nightingale Island is home to some 20,000 of the endangered sub-species of Northern Rockhopper Penguin. Sadly, these are the birds that were hit the hardest—thousands are expected to die from the effects of the oil spill. While this spill is relatively minor in comparison to so many in the world today, it represents a major calamity for the fragile birdlife on pristine Nightingale Island and a heavy blow to the small group of islanders of nearby Tristan da Cunha.
Today, I watched as 750 oil-soaked penguins were collected off Nightingale Island and removed to nearby Tristan da Cunha where they will be cleaned with detergent and hot water. I held a dead, oil-stained penguin in my hands, it’s tiny body showing the stress of the spill but also the season itself.
The oil spill occurred at the tail end of the rockhoppers’ molting season, worsening the natural struggle of the skinny penguins to return to the sea and find enough fish to survive. In order to prevent the penguins from returning to the sea, large pens have been set up on Nightingale Island.
Today I watched as oil-stained penguins preened the oil from their feathers, which causes them to ingest large amounts of petroleum and will kill them if they are not treated. Oil-soaked fur seal pups also hid among the rocks and tussock grass of the islands, leaving oil stains on the ground around them.
A crisis response team had arrived by tugboat from South Africa—a four-day journey by sea. Commercial divers were on the scene to help dismantle the shipwreck and attempt to prevent further fuel from spilling out into the sea.
Another fear is the introduction of rats from the ship to the island, which could decimate the local bird population, including several endemics to the Tristan Island group. Three different types of rat traps had been laid on the island, and according to Tristan’s conservation officer Trevor Glass, no rats have been seen or trapped so far.
I took these images this morning while walking around Nightingale Island (and there are many more to follow). It was a painful and disturbing scene. My only consolation is that the people of Tristan take their birds very seriously and the entire island is contributing to the rescue efforts.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment