SEAN BURNS
One of the oiled penguins from the Tristan disaster
JOHN YELD
Environment & Science Writer
THE OPERATION to save penguins
oiled during the wrecking of the bulk carrier, MS Oliva, at Tristan da
Cunha in March is probably an “unmitigated disaster”, despite the best
efforts of the islanders and a small team from local seabird
conservation group Sanccob.
Dr Ross Wanless, seabird division
manager of BirdLife South Africa and Africa co-ordinator of BirdLife
International’s global seabird programme, is concerned that the failure
rate to save the estimated 20 000 oiled rock-hopper penguins could be as
high as 98 percent, and the survival prospects of the remaining birds
just “pretty average”.
Wanless is still puzzled by regular press updates that are so upbeat, but which, he argues, don’t explain the facts.
The latest news from the island
states that, as at May 9, there were still about 400 penguins in the
rehabilitation centre on Tristan.
“There
have been no further releases since April 3. All remaining birds have
gained weight well, but their feathers appear in poor condition after
having been oiled and then washed. Release of these birds cannot occur
until they are in excellent condition, as sending them into a cold south
Atlantic without their waterproofing intact would be disastrous.
“Around 25 Tristanians are still
working full time with the penguins, and the entire community remains
dedicated to seeing the remaining birds head out to sea as soon as
possible. Sadly, the overall rate of rehabilitation of the rescued
penguins has been extremely low, with around an 88 percent mortality
rate among those birds that were moved to Tristan. This is a much higher
mortality than in other oiling incidents, and we hope that lessons can
be learned that will improve this figure in any future incidents.
“The extreme remoteness of the
Tristan islands and the necessary delay (at least six days sail from
Cape Town) in getting vital supplies and staff to the islands probably
contributed to the low survival, as birds would have been consuming
toxic oil from their feathers for more than a week before rescue was
undertaken.”
But writing on the national
birders’ forum, sabirdnet, Wanless described this update as “another
attempt at a positive spin on what has been to my mind an unmitigated
disaster, despite the best efforts of the Tristan islanders and
Sanccob”.
“The release notes that the
success rate is extremely low … but fails to provide authentic reasons
for this. The short of it is that waiting less than 24 hours to mobilise
two salvage vessels, but three weeks to get Sanccob to the island,
demonstrates a criminally negligent response from the insurers.”
There was again “complete silence about the true scale of the disaster”, Wanless said.
“There
is, for example, no mention of the initial estimate, based on an
incomplete survey of colonies, that there were 20 000 oiled penguins. If
my sums are correct, so far there are only 400 birds alive and 50
released and presumed alive of the 20 000 (initial) minimum estimate.
That’s actually a 98 percent failure rate, so far, with survival
prospects for the remaining birds being pretty average, I would guess.
“I don’t understand why the press
releases we’ve been fed simply don’t address this issue? Why is the
insurance company apparently getting away with this travesty?” he wrote.
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