Tag Archives: oil spill

Rena oil spill – update on bird mortality

28 October 2011 – 2.10pm

The team of Te Papa bird specialists is continuing to help at the wildlife recovery centre in Tauranga as both live and dead oiled birds continue to come ashore 3 weeks after the grounding of the M.V. Rena.

Our job is primarily to make sure that dead birds are correctly identified and, working with Massey University vets, to make an assessment about whether or not they are victims of the oil spill.

Alan Tennyson holding an oiled penguin. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

A dead little penguin covered in oil. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

The biggest surprise during the last week was finding a dead Chatham Island albatross – a rare species confined to nesting on a single island in the Chatham group. After careful examination, we determined that it was a breeding female but it was not oiled, so its death was probably a natural event unrelated to the grounding of the Rena.

A Chatham Island albatross that apparently died of natural causes being dissected by Massey vet Stuart Hunter. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

A Chatham Island albatross that apparently died of natural causes being dissected by Massey vet Stuart Hunter. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

While more than a thousand dead birds were recovered in the first 2 weeks after the grounding, the number found during the last week has now, fortunately, dropped to about 20 per day. While nearly all the live oiled birds found have been little penguins, the most common dead birds (of the approximately 1,300 examined) continue to be petrels – in particular diving petrels, which make up about half of those found. The next most common victims are two species that only breed in New Zealand: fluttering shearwater (about 20%) and Buller’s shearwater (about 10%).

These little penguins are recuperating in a purpose-built swimming pool. Filmed by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

The most common victims of the oil spill: hundreds of diving petrels have died. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

The most common victims of the oil spill: hundreds of diving petrels have died. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

We also examined a dead northern giant petrel that had eaten a lot of milk powder, which we suspect caused its death. Giant petrels are the size of small albatrosses and are well known for their scavenging habits. Many of the containers onboard the Rena contain milk powder, so this may be another unexpected danger for birds resulting from the grounding.

Shane Baylis with a giant petrel that appeared to have died from eating milk powder that spilled from one of the Rena's containers. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

Shane Baylis with a giant petrel that appeared to have died from eating milk powder that spilled from one of the Rena's containers. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

As salvors continue to battle to remove the remaining oil and stabilise the wrecked Rena, we don’t know how much more oil (and milk powder) is going to end up in the sea. It will be difficult to determine the impacts on seabird populations but the information that we are gathering will be a crucial part of this.

A little blue penguin covered in oil. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

Alan Tennyson holding a dead little penguin covered in oil. Photograph by A. Tennyson, Te Papa

By Alan Tennyson, Curator Natural Environment

By Te Papa | Posted in Bay of Plenty oil spill, Biodiversity, Birds, Disasters | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

Oilspill update

20 October 2011 – 1.37pm

Dead oiled wildlife continues to be collected from Bay of Plenty beaches, and the Te Papa Natural Environment team has been assisting with the Wildlife Recovery Centres activities of documenting and recovering species affected by the oil. The species found oiled include the many birds which nest in the Bay of Plenty: most birds returned are from locally common seabird species – Common Diving Petrel and Fluttering Shearwater – the latter a New Zealand endemic species. Aside from these local birds, there are species which breed far further afield, such as the Buller’s Shearwater (from Poor Knights Islands in Northland); the giant petrels from sub-Antarctic sites (some breed in New Zealand but also found around the Southern Ocean), and Blue Petrels likely to be from the Kerguelen Islands in the Indian Ocean. The one Wandering Albatross recovered last week has been identified as coming from a population outside of the New Zealand region, as its body measurements match Indian Ocean or Atlantic Ocean populations, and not those of the smaller-sized southern New Zealand (Antipodes and Auckland Islands) populations.

Red-billed gull oiled at Maketu. Photograph by and reproduced courtesy of Dominique Filippi

Red-billed gull oiled at Maketu. Photograph by and reproduced courtesy of Dominique Filippi

The grim job of sorting through the 1250 or so dead oiled birds returned to the centre by last weekend has to be put into perspective within the very positive atmosphere at the Wildlife Recovery Centre in Tauranga. It has been an amazing operation to be part of. Each hour throughout the day, volunteers, who’d been searching beaches under the wildlife recovery scheme being run by Maritime NZ, arrive with bags and boxes of animals, alive and dead. The Centre is incredibly well run and the spirit of cooperation is very strong. The purpose of ensuring good outcomes for the wildlife affected reigns on the site. The area houses many marquees and structures to enable the washing, feeding, and monitoring the penguins, shags and shore birds which are being recovered to health.

Volunteers preparing for cleanup at Papamoa Beach. Photograph by and reproduced courtesy of Dominique Filippi

Volunteers preparing for cleanup at Papamoa Beach. Photograph by and reproduced courtesy of Dominique Filippi

We worked mainly in the Post-Mortem tent, alongside Veterinary Scientists from Massey University, to identify, and categorise dead wildlife into groups by species and breeding status, and to ascertain how the birds had died. It is a sort of grim zoological forensic study, but done with the intention of finding out as much about the species’ origins (type of bird and population of origin) as possible, to track potential population impacts later on. When the Post-Mortem tent got too much for us, it was a welcome respite to poke our heads into the “Penguin Tent” and witness the fiesty little fellows in their blue tuxedos getting ready for their sardine smoothies. Even more entertaining was seeing the penguins go for their rostered swims in the exercise pools, watched over by their wardens, some of whom had heavily taped fingers as a preventative measure against the damage than can be inflicted by little penguin beaks.

Dead oiled birds being examined by Te Papa scientists. Photograph by and reproduced courtesy of Dominique Filippi

Dead oiled birds being examined by Te Papa scientists. Photograph by and reproduced courtesy of Dominique Filippi

I was very touched by the generosity of the Tauranga locals, when stopping for a much needed cuppa in the Mess Tent, to see piles of plated muffins and other tempting morsels, with messages of support sticky-labeled on the food-wrap encouraging us “Keep up the good work” and “For all those hard working wildlife volunteers”. The centre even had recycling facilities for the waste.

Te Papa has supplied some critical expertise to help a diverse group of professionals and volunteers in the Wildllife Recovery Centre, as our most expert scientists in bird identification are needed to work out which species are which among the oiled dead birds. Our retired curator of birds, Sandy Bartle, along with current curators Colin Miskelly and Alan Tennyson have all played important roles. We will continue to work alongside Massey University vets to cover the wildlife identification activity.

Susan Waugh, Senior Curator Natural Environment.

By Te Papa | Posted in Bay of Plenty oil spill, Birds, Disasters | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

What bird is that? The grim task of identifying seabirds killed by the M.V. Rena oil spill

14 October 2011 – 3.53pm

Fluttering shearwaters coated in oil from the M.V. Rena. Photo: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Te Papa bird staff are providing expert assistance to Maritime New Zealand and Massey University veterinary staff in the form of identifying birds affected by the oil spill. Three current and one former staff member have been a ‘tag team’ since 12 October, identifying the hundreds of corpses recovered by the teams patrolling the beaches, plus any picked up at sea. There are many seabird species potentially present in the Bay of Plenty at this time of year. Making sure that each bird is correctly identified is essential for understanding the impacts of the spill. This information will be crucial if there is any potential for environmental mitigation after the clean-up is complete.

Colin Miskelly (Te Papa's Curator Terrestrial Vertebrates) with a heavily oiled northern giant petrel. Photo: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Identifying heavily oiled birds is a challenge, especially when the oil is thick and tar-like. Not only are all plumage markings, bill and leg colour concealed, but it can even be difficult to determine the shape of the bill, which is otherwise diagnostic for many species. For some birds it is necessary to use body structure – the relative length of the tail separates the similarly-sized Buller’s and sooty shearwaters. For others, knowing the one crucial identification character to check (e.g. leg colour) to separate species pairs means that a bird can be identified more rapidly.

Karen and Lucy with oiled seabirds inside the pathology tent. Photo: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

The work is dirty, smelly, frustrating, and deeply saddening for anyone who knows the beauty of these birds in their prime. Over 20 species of seabird have been identified dead and coated with oil so far, ranging in size from tiny white-faced storm petrels to an enormous wandering albatross. The three main species affected (common diving petrel, fluttering shearwater and Buller’s shearwater) are not threatened species, but their populations will take decades to recover from a mortality event of this scale. All lay a maximum of one egg per pair each year, and the two shearwaters do not start to breed until they are about 5 years old.

 
By Colin Miskelly | Posted in Bay of Plenty oil spill, Biodiversity, Birds, Disasters, Field trips | Also tagged , | Comments (3)

Bay of Plenty oilspill – Potential for impacts on seabird populations

7 October 2011 – 4.18pm

New Zealand marine areas are home to a wide variety of wildlife, with many unique and threatened species inhabiting our waters. New Zealand’s title as World Seabird Capital is unchallenged, with 1/3 of the worlds’ 346 species present in the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone, including ½ of the 22 albatross species of the world. A high proportion (40%) of the worlds albatrosses and their smaller cousins, the petrels and shearwaters breed in New Zealand. Nineteen of these species breed only in New Zealand, and 18 of these are threatened with extinction. The Bay of Plenty is a rich environment for feeding for these species, and many of its small islands are refuges for vulnerable species.

The endemic Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni is one example, listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. The breeding population is estimated at around 1750 pairs of nesting birds. Nesting only on Great and Little Barrier Island, the Black Petrel is active around the Bay of Plenty where the Rena oil spill has occurred. Black Petrels begin to return to their breeding colonies in early October, and feed extensively at this time of year around eastern New Zealand in preparation for egg-laying in November.

Black Petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni)

Black Petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni). Reproduced courtesy of Wikimedia under a CC-BY-3.0 licence

The Black Petrel species is subject to threats from predation at the breeding sites by cats and other introduced predators, and are killed in longline fisheries in New Zealand northern waters.  Any mortality of Black Petrels in the oil spill will be to adding to other deleterious influences on the population and may have very serious impacts on the population as a whole.

Research into the ability of seabird populations to cope with additional mortality has been conducted by the Ministry of Fisheries and has shown that only a small number of additional deaths can be sustained for adult seabirds of many species in the Bay of Plenty area. Additional deaths above the expected ‘natural’ deaths have potential to result in population declines for rare species such as the endemic Black Petrel. Cumulatively, deaths from fishing, and oiling add to unusual climatic incidents like this year’s very strong La Nina weather conditions, and can put a great deal of stress on fragile populations. Reduced numbers of adults of long lived species such as shearwaters and petrels has potential to have a very great effect on the sustainability of their populations, as adults killed in events such as oil spills leave young to die in the nest, and partners to the dead birds may take many years to re-mate.

Another threatened seabird species breeding in the Bay of Plenty is the Pycroft’s petrel, with its major breeding centre on the Mercury Islands. Some populations of seabirds, significant at a national level, breed in the Bay of Plenty – Coromandel area and depend on resources in the Bay of Plenty for food. These include large populations of Flesh-footed Shearwaters (Alderman Islands, Karewa Island, Ohinau Island), Common Diving Petrels (Mercury Islands) and Australasian Gannets (Whale Island).

New Zealand Birds: Gannets, Cape Kidnappers, 1960 s - 1980 s, Hawke's Bay. Brake, Brian. Gift of Mr Raymond Wai-Man Lau, 2001. Te Papa

New Zealand Birds: Gannets, Cape Kidnappers, 1960 s - 1980 s, Hawke's Bay. Brake, Brian. Gift of Mr Raymond Wai-Man Lau, 2001. Te Papa

 
Reef structures can operate like oases in the otherwise sparse feeding environment of the offshore marine systems of New Zealand. Their physical structure catches the current and planktonic larvae settle, out so they support many marine life-forms. Around the reef predatory fish, and other top predators such as whales and seabirds congregate to snatch fish.

Astrolabe Reef is a really well known diving and fishing spot, removed from the effects of coastal sedimentation so has very clear water. This results in a rich algal and invertebrates (sponges, tubeworms, and the like) assemblage and with this comes a very diverse fish community. If the oil and dispersant impact on the algae and invertebrates then the reef community will be significantly degraded. Recreational species like rock lobster, snapper and kingfish are all targeted and obvious, but there also the smaller ‘hidden’ ones like pink cusks and triplefins. These, like the algae kina, paua and sponges, are permanent inhabitants of a reef and incapable of moving on when the habitat is adversely effected by something as toxic as an oil spill and dispersant. The Bay of Plenty is the southern limit for some fish species and the off-shore islands and reefs are the best place to observe them.

Common triplefin, Forsterygion lapillum Hardy, 1989, collected 13 Aug 1991, 750 m South of Tuingara Point, Pourerere, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Te Papa

Common triplefin, Forsterygion lapillum Hardy, 1989, collected 13 Aug 1991, 750 m South of Tuingara Point, Pourerere, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Te Papa

Oil impacts marine life in a variety of ways, physically coating surfaces and through toxic effects which can affect vital elements such as organs functions and respiration. Recovery of oiled wildlife can be a tenuous process, with many oiled birds suffering damage to their feathers, but also their internal organs as they injest oil when they preen their feathers to clean them. Recovery of oiled birds is possible, but very resource intensive. A large facility to cope with oiled wildlife at Phillip Island, near Melbourne has capacity to cope with 1500 penguins at a time, and is Australia’s answer to dealing with this problem. New Zealand has no centre of comparable capacity at this time.

By Te Papa | Posted in Bay of Plenty oil spill, Biodiversity, Birds, Disasters, Fish | Also tagged | Comments (4)
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