10 October 2011 | Alan Bouquet
Biodiversity, Energy, Transportation, Australia

 

The Bay of Plenty is in line to be most affected by the spill

A stranded ship off the coast of New Zealand has begun to leak oil, spilling as much as 30 tonnes so far, with a further 1700 tonnes on the vessel stranded on a reef. Clumps of oil have been reported as being washed ashore on the North Island.

The 775 foot container ship Rena ran aground on Astrolabe reef on Wednesday and oil has been leaking from the vessel since then. Efforts are now underway to extract the oil from the stricken ship, but bad weather and choppy waters have made this process difficult. Further bad weather could affect the recovery as well, with a tanker having to halt extraction after only ten tonnes were removed on Monday.

Maritime New Zealand, who are in charge of the rescue operation say that, "The top priority is to first remove the oil, then lighten the vessel by removing the containers, and finally, move the ship off the reef."

Further oil is expected to wash ashore in the coming days and residents have been told to refrain from venturing into the water, however it is unknown how much oil will hit the beach. Penguins have already had to be rescued after being affected by the slick. In addition, it is currently breeding season for many native birds in the area and it is therefore likely to impact the bird population significantly.

New Zealand prime minister, John Key, was particularly scathing of the incident, stating, "People know about the reef, and for to plough into it for no particular reason – at night, in calm waters – tells you something terrible has gone wrong and we need to understand why,"
 

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