Source: Radio New Zealand
Oil spill from HMNZS Te Kaha is contained on Akaroa Harbour. Facebook/Environment Canterbury
Canterbury Regional Council is yet to decide if there will be any penalties for the Royal New Zealand Navy after a ship spilled hundreds of litres of oil in Akaroa Harbour.
About 200 to 300 litres of lubricating oil leaked from HMNZS Te Kaha on Sunday morning because of an oil cooler defect on the ship’s starboard engine.
The Defence Force (NZDF) said the ship was in Akaroa for a training exercise.
The council’s coast and harbours manager Guy Harris said crews had cleaned up most of the oil using absorbent booms. It was not a large spill, but the oil was quite toxic and “thick” for wildlife, although that made it easier for teams to pick up, he said.
“We’ve been on the water since first light doing observations. We still haven’t seen any more black oil but we are still seeing odd sheen, which is very thin layers of oil, and we’re chasing those down.
“We’re also doing shoreline observations looking for oil on the beach, on the rocks.
“This type of oil could be quite significant if it wasn’t captured, if it was in a more remote place or the weather wasn’t so forgiving or we couldn’t get to it, it could be quite damaging. But in this instance we did everything right, and we had a few things on our side as well.”
Harris said any enforcement action against the Navy was yet to be determined by the regional council.
Polluting ships could result in prosecutions or fines of thousands of dollars under the Resource Management Act.
Harris said there had been no reports of any oiled or sick wildlife so far, but teams were continuing to search the area. The oil spill did not happen in Akaroa’s marine reserve.
“We’ve been looking out for seabirds such as shags or blue penguins, there’s a few other birds that come and go but they’re the main ones we’d be looking for, and maybe red-billed gulls,” he said.
The HMNZS Te Kaha (file photo). SUPPLIED / US NAVY
Otago University professor of zoology Liz Slooten said she had serious concerns for dolphins and seabirds in the harbour.
She said seabirds could have their feathers covered in oil, causing them to lose their insulation, sink, drown or be unable to catch fish. Risks for marine mammals included breathing in polluted fumes, getting oil in their eyes, or eating contaminated fish, she said.
“There’s a whole bunch of health effects that will follow on from these animals taking in oil, or diesel or other petrochemicals, so it’s a really serious problem.”
She said bottlenose dolphins had been seen to lose teeth after swimming in contaminated waters in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, when 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the sea.
Slooten said it was concerning the Navy leak was the second spill in the harbour in the past two months, with more than 2000 litres of marine diesel fuel spilling from the Black Cat Cruises boat on 31 January.
Banks Peninsula councillor Tyrone Fields said Akaroa had had a “horror run” and news of another spill was disheartening.
“The health of the harbour there is really on the precipice, and I’d hate to think we’d consider doing future damage to it by continuing to pump wastewater into it. At some point we just have to start doing the right thing when it comes to our waterways.”
NZDF said the ship’s company had been working with the harbourmaster to clean up the slick.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
