Oil Spill Off Australian Coast
March 14th, 2009 at 5:00 pm - by Blake Allen
On March 10th, 2009 the Hong Kong registered Pacific Adventurer, having been damaged by conditions created by Cyclone Hamish, leaked 230 tonnes of oil across the Australian Coastline around the Brisbane and Sunshine Coast area.
The environmental crisis began when high seas caused by Cyclone Hamish knocked 31 containers of ammonium nitrate fertilizer from the deck of the Pacific Adventurer: puncturing the hull as they fell and releasing 620 tonnes of the chemical fertilizer into the ecosystem. Scientists believe the fertilizer could cause harmful algal blooms which would destroy natural habitats and suffocate fish in the area.
A team of 130 specialists has been deployed to clean the area, with hundreds of others working to clean the beaches and save affected wildlife. Meanwhile, environmental experts warn that as long as high tides and cyclonic seas continue to erode the beaches and wash the spills into nearby rivers the clean up will be difficult. On Thursday, the 12th of March, the Queensland State government said that clean-up could take up to seven days.
Queensland’s premier Anna Bligh has come under fire for the government’s slow handling of this environmental crisis.
Disaster zones have been declared across dozens of beaches along the Sunshine Coast, as well as National Parks on Bribie and Moreton Islands which are home to a wide variety of animals: sea birds, dolphins, turtles and other types of marine life.
The Pacific Adventurer’s owner - Swire Shipping - could face fines of $1.5 million AUD ($977,000 USD) if found guilty of environmental breaches, not including clean-up costs of $100,000 AUD a day.
