POLLUTION UPDATE: Nature still reeling from Rena impact
One year on from the Rena disaster, independent conservation organisation Forest & Bird is still concerned at the ongoing environmental impacts of the oil spill, unrecovered containers and the shipwreck.
Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Forest & Bird Central North Island Field Officer Al Fleming says 350 containers from the ship have not been recovered. “These containers are breaking down, possibly releasing debris and toxic chemicals into the marine environment.
“The wreck is still on the reef, and Forest & Bird is concerned at possible pollution of Bay of Plenty waters from this. Before deciding on whether the Rena wreck should remain, we would like to see an assessment of the environmental impacts,” Al Fleming says.
The loss of an estimated 20,000 birds when 350 tonnes of heavy fuel leaked from the grounded ship has had a terrible effect on populations of many species of birds that live in the Bay of Plenty and further afield. “Bay of Plenty beaches, estuaries and harbours are important nesting sites for many of our shorebirds, including oyster catchers and terns,” Al Fleming says.
An oiled bird from Oil Spill in San Francisco Bay. About 58,000 gallons of oil spilled from a South Korea-bound container ship when it struck a tower supporting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in dense fog on 11/07/07. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The impact of the oil spill on the local New Zealand dotterel population has been of most serious concern. “Dotterels are a threatened species with a population between 1500 and 1800,” says Al Fleming. “After the Rena disaster, 60 adults were removed from Bay of Plenty beaches. Five died from a lung infection while in captivity. No eggs or chicks were removed from the beaches so they were lost as well. This is a significant loss when you’re talking about a small population of birds.”
Forest & Bird is working with central government, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and WWF-NZ on a three-year Bay of Plenty Shorebird Protection Programme to re-establish shorebird populations devastated in the oil spill.
Work has already started on pest control, habitat restoration, an education programme in schools, and raising public awareness of threats to our native shorebirds.
“This year’s breeding season and the success of the shorebird protection programme is critical to the long-term recovery of bird populations,” says Al Fleming.
Forest & Bird is continuing to work with Rena operator Costamare and insurer the Swedish Club to create a fund for the long-term recovery of the region’s environment.
Al Fleming says the oil spill was a tragedy for nature, and Forest & Bird supports the independent review being launched to ensure our environment is safeguarded from future disasters. “I hope the lessons from the Rena can teach us how to avoid other potential environmental catastrophes if we pursue offshore oil and gas drilling.”
Oil spill update : Rena threat scaled down
Oiled Bird – Black Sea Oil Spill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Location map of Matakana Island, New Zealand (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A giant milestone has been reached in the battle to protect the Bay’s environment from oil leaking out of the Rena. The Bay of Plenty Times reports
Maritime New Zealand has announced that the oil pollution threat from the wreck is now so low that it has scaled down the emergency and handed over responsibility to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
National on-scene commander Rob Service said reducing the oil spill response from a national to regional level was a milestone and testimony to months of hard work. “This has been an amazing effort,” he said.
The decision to downgrade the Rena from a national level oil emergency was taken after the wreck was assessed as having a minimal oil spill threat, leaving the regional council as the agency responsible for monitoring spills and future clean-ups.
Mr Service said oil levels in previously affected areas were now so low that clean-ups were not warranted. Public sightings of oil in recent months had been consistently low.
The previously massive effort had been scaled down to the point where only a few oil spill response teams were still surveying affected areas.
He emphasised the response had been scaled down, not stopped. “It is a real achievement to reach this point.”
At the height of the crisis, international experts were assisting Maritime NZ to cope with the oil spilling out of the Rena.
Many local volunteers cleaned up the beaches they loved, helped by hundreds of army personnel. Iwi and other local councils also played significant roles in the clean-up.
Meanwhile, salvors had this week focused on cutting up hatch covers and removing them from the wreck.
Fine weather had allowed divers to remove debris from the sea bed around the stern section of the wreck.
The contents of containers continued to be removed using a heavy-lift helicopter. A total of 769 containers had been brought ashore, leaving about 200 in the bow section of Rena and 358 in the aft section or on the seabed.
A grid survey was under way on Matakana Island‘s 23km of beaches as part of the plan to vacuum up the remaining plastic beads that washed up from Rena.
Source : http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/news/rena-oil-threat-scaled-down/1370102/
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Oilspill Update : City refuses to pay for Rena campaign
From the Bay of Plenty Times
The city council has refused to give the region’s tourism agency the $600,000 it wants for an advertising campaign to improve Tauranga’s battered image after the Rena disaster. WHAT DO YOU THINK SHOULD HAPPEN? twitter.com/#!/LearnFromNature
The shipping company that chartered the vessel could now be the last hope to bankroll the campaign.
Tourism Bay of Plenty is trying to raise $600,000 to run the campaign to counter the damage caused by the disaster.
Chairman Paul Bowker found a lot of sympathy but no takers at yesterday’s council meeting.
Mayor Stuart Crosby offered a ray of hope that some of the $1 million donated by the charterer of the Rena, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, could be used to help fund the campaign.
The shipping company has asked the mayors and chief executives of the Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty District councils to suggest ways to distribute the $1 million based on four categories: Business losses with an emphasis on tourism, cleaning up the coastline, wildlife care and assistance for iwi.
Mr Crosby told the Bay of Plenty Times there was a strong possibility some of the money could go to Tourism BOP’s recovery campaign.
The Western Bay council has already declined making a contribution on the basis that its priority was the Psa outbreak, and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council has already made a $25,000 contribution to cover costs associated with organising the campaign.
Tourism BOP has so far spent or allocated $266,000 on the campaign, including the development of the concept, without securing the $600,000 needed to make it happen.
Cr Catherine Stewart led the move to decline the request for funding, saying that the weather and the economy were other influences affecting tourism. Some businesses’ revenues were up because of the influx of people into the Bay to deal with the disaster.
She said ratepayers were already being squeezed and she wondered if Tourism BOP was aware of the fiscal constraints and major financial challenges facing the council.
Tourism BOP’s recovery campaign manager Linda Macpherson said the potential losses from the Rena were $1.2 million a day. Fifty-five per cent of operators were negatively affected by the disaster, 70 per cent reported that business was down over the Christmas-New Year period and that they expected the Rena to continue to hit their businesses for the next 18 months.
Without mentioning the names of businesses, she said a marine operator had closed and another had lost $50,000, two accommodation providers were down $148,000 and $9000 respectively, a grocery retailer had lost $109,000 and a sports event $15,000.
Ms Macpherson said the campaign aimed to reverse the risk of lasting damage to the Bay’s reputation as a visitor destination by arresting negative perceptions and rebuilding the Bay brand. The campaign would not be launched until they knew the Bay would not be subjected to any more oil spills or outbreaks of containers.
Mr Bowker said Tourism BOP had a mandate to boost tourism and was left in a difficult situation because, without resources, there was nothing it could do.
“The reason we are standing here is because we have exhausted our [funding] avenues … is doing nothing the right option,” he said.
Mr Crosby added a positive note to Cr Stewart’s resolution by adding that the council would continue to work with Tourism BOP to assist in seeking funds. “We still have a role to play.”
Tourism BOP, a council-controlled organisation, receives $775,000 a year from the city council and $169,000 from the district council, totalling $944,000.
Comments :
Trueblue62
Oh poor old Tourism Bay of Plenty … after receiving $1million bucks from the ratepayers AND STILL they seek to “benefit” from a disaster/tragedy at the expense of others?? Why don’t they use some of their “funds” they have managed to acquire from the “monopolisation” of the current cruise ship season? Now their hopes are with first “bludging” more from the rate payers who have funded them anyway with tax payer money – getting a “NO”, and now they hope to get another ‘handout’ from the Shipping company. What did they do with all the cash from the $1million? There are more community organisations in need of this funding than ‘greedy’ bearaucrats with an agenda that were adversely affected by the Rena. Did Graeme Marshall (former Chairman of TBOP – YOU KNOW – the guy with more heads than he can put hats on) or the incoming chairman of TBOP – Bowker, get their hands dirty to help clean up the oil on the beaches? DON’T THINK SO! No, They’re too busy sitting at board tables figuring out how to spend tax payers money without doing anything for it!
Rachel Carson , Rotorua :
You know, I have often wondered why Tauranga has significantly lagged behind the rest of the region as an international tourist destination. Part of the reason was probably that its brand managers and marketers simply weren’t far sighted enough a few years back and Rotorua got to enjoy much of the passenger influx of cruise ships for quite a long time before the city began to peg back what it had lost through its RTO-of-the-time’s inertia. Funding is absolutely crucial – and in this instance, damage control is even moreso. As an RTO , they are best suited towards that end and the council is literally shooting itself in the foot by not taking this on board. No pun intended. The perspective that potential visitors have is the key and whether their perspectives are correct or not, at the moment, they are more negative than positive. Tauranga may depend on the port as a vital player – but there are people whose livelihoods are very much at stake and tourism is a key player in the region; these people need to be looked after by the council that represents them. One million dollars is chump change… but the money that it could potentially bring into the economy is significant enough to warrant the expenditure. And finally, it is obvious TrueBlue has no concept of the role an RTO is supposed to play on a national and international level. It is not designed for regional roles and too many ratepayers don’t seem to understand what it actually does.
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Oilspill Update : 2325 tonnes of Rena waste processed so far
Image via Wikipedia
In Tauranga, the oil spill have had ‘gone’ public minds – I have seen public beaches previously ‘closed’ and now ‘back to normal’ . The waste and its impact, however, is still being dealt with …. This from the Bay of Plenty Times | twitter.com/#!/LearnFromNature & twitter.com/#!/NAEE_UK
About 2325 tonnes of waste from the stricken cargo ship Rena has been processed since it ran aground off Tauranga in October, clean-up company Braemar Howells show.
Of that, 1870 tonnes has gone into landfills while 117 tonnes has been liquid waste, mostly blood from meat freezers.
Around 177 tonnes of the rubbish was collected from Waihi Beach and 77 tonnes from Matakana Island.
About 25 tonnes of milk powder has been collected and 120 containers have been processed by Braemar Howells.
The figures include waste which washed ashore and waste collected from the sea.
Braemar Howells spokeswoman Monique O’Connor said the company was prepared to deal with the same amount of waste again, but it was unclear how much more would be washed from the ship.
“A lot of that depends on what’s happening on board, which depends on what’s happening with weather conditions. It’s in the lap of the gods really.
“The clean-up is very much an ongoing operation. Initially it focused on the western Bay of Plenty because debris was focused nearer the Rena but it’s now a far greater area, it’s spread far to the north and south.
One of the aims this week was to recover containers holding timber which had washed up at two secluded beaches north of Waihi Beach, she said.
Source : http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/news/2325-tonnes-of-rena-waste-processed-so-far/1247716/
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Rena Update : Helicopters used to remove debris
Image via Wikipedia
From TVNZ | https://twitter.com/#!/LearnFromNature
Bags of debris have been airlifted off Motiti Island as the clean up along Bay of Plenty coastlines continues.
Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said a helicopter was used because parts of the island are inaccessible.
Preparations are also being made to remove milk from a container on the Rena by helicopter as salvage efforts continue on the wreck.
The ship broke into two on Astrolabe Reef in the Bay of Plenty 10 days ago after running aground in early October.
Another container washed up at Bowentown, the second in two days.
It brings the total number of identified containers on beaches or in the water up to 19. Retrieval of the latest container is likely to be carried out by boat.
MNZ says salvors have been on board the bow section, assessing the state of containers, including preparing to remove bags of milk powder from a container and fly them off by helicopter.
Bags of milk powder were among debris washed up on the Bay of Plenty coastline after the Rena split in two and the stern section largely sank.
The authority said there has been no significant change to the wreck overnight.
Salvors hope to continue a dive survey of the wreck today but diving is difficult because of sea state, it said.
Meanwhile, shoreline clean-up assessment teams plan to survey for oil from the ship at Maketu Spit and Matakana Island today.
A barge has been deployed to collect debris around Whale and White Islands and mainland coastlines.
Maritime NZsaid it is continuing to respond to reports of oil from the Rena.
Forest & Bird said at least 60 dead oiled birds have been collected since the beginning of last week, but that the death toll may be much higher.
The conservation organisation says overseas research suggests only around 10% of all birds killed in an oil spill are recovered, with most sinking without trace at sea.
Forest & Bird Central North Island Field Officer Al Fleming said there are also concerns about the impact on wildlife of debris.
One bird recovering at the response centre has been seen vomiting plastic translucent plastic beads that spilled from the Rena’s cargo. He also said birds on the beach have been spotted feeding on the beads.
Forest & Bird said a number of dead birds have been found on beaches that have not been oiled. Autopsies will confirm whether they have eaten debris or died from other causes.
Four oiled penguins will be taken to Massey tomorrow, and up to six brought back to the Bay of Plenty, the number depending on their level of “waterproofing”, MNZ said.
A shoreline wildlife monitoring team will be on Motiti Island for five days.
Source : http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/helicopters-used-remove-rena-debris-4690422
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