Australian Oil Spill Threatens Marine Life

A leaking oil well head in the vast Montara oilfield, off Australia’s North West coast is killing hundreds of seabirds and threatening thousands more. Marine life of all kinds is under threat and conservationists have issued a dire warning that this must be capped and cleaned up immediately.

There have already been three previous attempts at sealing the oil off but it has come to light that oil and gas has been spewing into Timor Sea since mid August. The company has been trying to plug the leak by pouring heavy mud over it, but it has not worked. In fact it has not even slowed the flow.

Image via Wikipedia

World Wide Fund for Nature says that many birds have died from being contaminated by oil from the huge slick that has built up.  Biologists speak of the horrific sight of dolphins actually surfacing in the oil. Hundreds of dead turtles including the threatened hawksbill and flatback, and sea snakes have been found floating in the oil.

All this destruction to marine life has been adamantly denied by the company who claim that a survey failed to find and evidence of damage to birds, or marine life.

Despite attempts to stop the leak, it is estimated that 2000 barrels of oil have been seeping into the sea since August 21st 2009.  Work that out over a two month period and it’s a lot of oil and a lot of pollution.  However, the Thai company responsible, PTTEP Australia, claims that the oil is only leaking at a rate 300-400 barrels per day.

The biologists overseeing the attempt to contain the spill say that the oil itself is one problem but the dispersants used to break up the slick cause others. Fish stocks, birds and marine mammals will be affected by this for many generations.

The slick is 155 miles or 250 kilometres off shore, so the Australian public was not getting the full picture of just how serious the whole incident is. The fact that this has been going on and getting bigger since August 21st is a disgrace.

Image via Wikipedia

The impact of Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989 is still affecting the marine environment today, so we can expect this disaster to have far reaching effects for many years to come.