Activists monitoring toxic oil spill consequences
Mon 22 June 2009
Natalie Wynne, Journalism
Activists are calling for close monitoring of Sunshine Coast waterways and marine animals after the results of an oil spill earlier this year became fully apparent.
Sunshine Coast residents woke on March 11, 2009, to beaches covered in oil.
Near Cape Moreton just off the Queensland coast, the Pacific Adventurer lost 31 out of 50 containers carrying ammonium nitrate.
Rough seas resulted in the containers puncturing a hole in the ship’s hull, causing an estimated 30 tonnes of toxic oil to spill into the ocean.
Ex-tropical cyclone Hamish was situated off the Queensland coast at the time, and the turbulent seas caused the oil to break up and spread quickly.
Sunshine Coast Wildlife Volunteers (WILVOS) member Denise French said 20kms of coastline was affected from Warana, Bokarina and Wurtulla beaches as well as Moreton Island.
Both Currimundi Creek and Maroochy River were also affected before booms were put in place to protect the freshwater sources.
Ocean-facing beaches between Currimundi and Coolum were the worst affected, as well as the North Shore Maroochy River Conservation Park, where oil washed into 20m of bushland from the river’s edge.
The affected areas were home to various marine life, as well as endangered species.
“At the time the oil formed a film on dune vegetation and was a thick black sludge on the sand, affecting birdlife, marine life, crustaceans and invertebrates such as shellfish,” Mrs French said.
However, this was only the beginning of the disaster.
Long term consequences were now being measured, with environmental and wildlife activists monitoring waterways and various marine animals.
In a The Courier-Mail article, Environment Protection Agency senior director Clive Cook said the ramifications of the oil spill on the ecosystem could drag on for more than a year.
“The more oil we can get out of the system the better it is, but obviously it does have a flow-on effect, if animals start to ingest oil, other animals eat those animals,” Mr Cook said.
Sunshine Coast Environmental Council member Annie Nolan said most animals were subject to acute treatment.
“Birds, fish and marine turtle eggs and hatchlings were rescued, cleaned and released once the beach areas had been cleaned up and declared safe by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and Queensland Parks and Wildlife,” Ms Nolan said.
WILVO member Mrs French said a number of dead specimens washed up on the beaches and were removed to reduce the risk of being eaten and allowing oil toxins to move down the food chain.
Mrs French explained that because of the long term effects of oil toxicity, less visible species such as invertebrates that lived in the sand -pipis, mussels and shellfish – were more likely to bear the consequences over the longest period of time.
Ms Nolan stated that it was extremely important that the monitoring of waterways was continued.
“It is important we do not just say oh well, it was two months ago, time to forget it,” Ms Nolan said.
“It is now that we have to keep an eye on what is actually happening.”
Mrs French said that, while the immediate effects had been cleaned up, it could take years for the oil toxicity to eventually work through some species.
“As to the long term effects of the oil no one is sure," Ms Nolan said.
"Studying what is actually happening with the wildlife and the sand out there will help us understand."
Ms Nolan also said there was a very quick reaction from the Sunshine Coast Regional Council.
“With the initial clean up involved using machinery to remove contaminated sand, also booming the various creeks to stop oil travelling,” Ms Nolan said.
“They are still monitoring the impact on the Coast’s inland waterways.
“The oil certainly went up in some creek areas, but because of the Council’s booming the extent was not as bad as it could have been.
“WaterWatch Mooloolah branch and the Environmental Protection Agency are still working, taking samples and chemically analysing water samples and keeping a close eye on effected animals.”
Coolum District Coast Care volunteer Leigh Warneminde agreed that the most important thing two months on from this disaster was to consider the long term effects.
“We need to keep a close eye on marine life, beaches and our waterways,” Ms Warneminde said.
“Someone needs to be ongoing monitoring to make sure we don’t miss any underlying effects.”
Ms Nolan also said shipping companies needed to look at what impending cyclones were doing, prepare contingency plans and test them.
“It comes down to a systemic approach to looking ahead to what could happen and preparing a risk assessment so that nothing like this happens in the future,” Ms Nolan said.
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