Follow-up on the Rockhopper penguins oiled in the MS Oliva oil spill near Tristan da Cunha – how did they fare?

Well, it’s been a while since my last post – work-related travel and several other projects have kept me extremely busy since my last report on the oil spill at the Tristan da Cunha island group. While I sorely wish I had better news to report regarding the valiant efforts to save the Rockhopper penguins oiled in the MS Oliva oil spill on March 16th, the painful reality is that a very large number of the affected birds have died.

 

What’s even more difficult to accept is the fact that these majestic seabirds didn’t have to die. We currently have the means and the expertise to save oiled penguins – however it was impossible to get experienced rescuers or needed supplies to this remote location in time to save these birds. But it shouldn’t be that way.

Oiled and ailing Rockhopper penguins in truck. Photo by Katrine Herian, RSPB

While the crew and owners of ships are ultimately responsible for ensuring the safe navigation of their vessels, wherever shipping lanes pass close to sensitive wildlife areas, we must be better prepared to deal with potential oil spills and the ensuing animal rescues. There should be established rescue facilities with trained staff at the ready to respond whenever an oil spill occurs. And I believe the onus should be on the shipping companies to pay for these facilities, the supplies and the staffing. After all, these are the parties responsible for oiling accidents – and the ones guilty of causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of animals and the destruction of marine environments worldwide. The system is currently broken. And as long as petroleum-fueled vessels ply our oceans, we must have better systems in place to deal with these (often preventable) disasters.

Child feeding Rockhopper penguins at rehabilitation site at Tristan da Cunha. Photo by Tina Glass

The Rockhopper rescue at Tristan da Cunha is not yet completed. About 300 penguins, still undergoing rehabilitation, still linger at the three rehabilitation sites. A small number of islanders continue to work around the clock to save these ailing birds. On May 21st, 25 penguins were released, and on May 31st, another 120 birds were liberated from their pens on East Beach. A May 12th article from BirdLife International reports that there has been an 88% mortality rate for the birds that were rescued. (See the BirdLife article here: Gaining weight, but not yet waterproof: penguins still need care.) If this figure is accurate, this is truly a tragic and preventable debacle. Eighty-eight percent should have been – and could have been – the success rate, not the mortality rate. Please do not misinterpret my words as a reflection on the islanders and rescuers who went to help them deal with this unexpected disaster. They did everything in their power to save the oiled birds, and it is clearly not their fault that this rescue effort was not more successful. It is due to many circumstances far beyond their control. Which is why the current system needs to change.

Release of 25 Rockhopper penguins on May 21st. Photo by Marina Burns

It has been reported that the ship’s insurers will be paying for the penguin rescue effort and environmental clean-up. But that is not enough. Future long-term monitoring of the Endangered Northern Rockhopper penguin population at Tristan da Cunah will be necessary to determine the full impact of this oil spill. And this important conservation project will not be funded by the ship’s owners or insurers. These types of follow-up studies are essential for providing supporting evidence when trying to get new laws passed or protected areas established near sensitive wildlife areas. If you care about these beautiful birds and want to do something to help ensure their future survival, please donate generously to one of the rescue funds established in response to the MS Oliva oil spill. (See a list of these groups below.)

Thank you,

Dyan deNapoli – The Penguin Lady (www.thepenguinlady.com)

The Ocean Doctor (Dr. David Guggenheim): http://oceandoctor.org/ (Click on the green ‘donate now’ button in the right-hand column.) Or go to this link:Nightingale Island Disaster Penguin and Seabird Rescue Fund

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds: Nightingale Island Emergency Appeal

Foundation for Antarctic Research: Catastrophic Oil Spill – Tristan

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Oiled Rockhopper penguins at Tristan da Cunha getting washed and rehabilitated – long term impact of the MS Oliva oil spill on the population still in question.

The latest reports indicate that the recovery of any more oiled penguins from the islands in the Tristan da Cunha island group has probably concluded. Conservation officials on the islands have said they believe that all of the live oiled penguins have now been collected and brought to the rehabilitation center on the main island (Tristan da Cunha). This temporary rehabilitation center was constructed after supplies and staff from SANCCOB (Cape Town’s seabird rescue center) arrived on the tug, Svitzer Singapore, on April 5th. Extremely rough seas made it nearly impossible to access several of the islands over the last week or two, but now that a helicopter has arrived (as of last Tuesday on the Russian research vessel, the Ivan Papanin), they should be able to conduct more thorough surveys of the islands. The good news is that the rough seas have helped to break up the oil in the waters surrounding the islands.

Five ships at Tristan da Cunha - the most ever seen there at once. A helicopter is on the ship on the right, the Ivan Papanin. Photo by Katrine Herian, RSPB

Once the Svitzer Singapore arrived from Cape Town with frozen fish and cleaning supplies (including detergent, wash-tubs, degreaser, toothbrushes, hot water heaters and infrared heat lamps), the training of volunteers and cleaning of the oiled penguins could finally begin. Which was a tremendous relief. However, these birds had been coated in toxic oil for so long that they were in a very compromised state. In the past week, 1,577 of the 3,718 oiled penguins died. At this point, the exact cause of these deaths has not been released.

SANCCOB CEO Venessa Strauss spraying degreaser onto an oiled Rockhopper penguin prior to washing it. Photo by Katrine Herian, RSPB

Washing a Rockhopper penguin at Tristan da Cunha. Photo by Katrine Herian, RSPB

But we do know the following from previous experience; an oiled animal will compulsively preen or groom itself (a penguin uses its beak to do this) so they ingest the toxic oil covering their bodies. This leads to dehydration, anemia (the red blood cells lyse or break down, and the birds also get bleeding ulcers), and other health issues. Eventually, this long-term exposure to the toxic oil can kill them. So, the ideal situation is to get the penguins washed as soon as possible once they have been oiled (after first giving them 24-48 hours to stabilize after being captured and transported).

But, unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond the control of the islanders and the conservation officers stationed there (and the penguin experts coming from Cape Town), the necessary supplies did not arrive until three weeks after the oil spill occurred. The hold-up was apparently on the governmental level in the UK (this island group is a British territory). We still do not have answers as to why the official response from the UK was so slow and insufficient. Had professional rescue teams (bringing necessary supplies) been allowed to go to Tristan as soon as this oil spill occurred, the lives of many more penguins would undoubtedly have been saved.

Heavily oiled, emaciated penguin rescued on March 23rd. Photo by Katrine Herian

The timing of this oil spill also was disastrous for the penguins because they were just completing their annual molts (during which they fast for 2-3 weeks), and were already extremely thin to begin with. Before the Svitzer Singapore arrived with 20 tons of frozen sardines, islanders fished for local fish to feed the penguins – and even donated all of the fish in their personal freezers to the cause. According to the latest reports, the islanders are doing a wonderful job washing the penguins and nursing them back to health under the direction of the professional rescue teams. For more on the recent updates, you can read last week’s article from BirdLife International Community, titled Wash and dry for rockhoppers at rehab center. This page from the official Tristan da Cunha website also has updated reports: Seabird Rehabilitation on Tristan da Cunha main island.

Islanders cutting up fish they had caught to feed the oiled penguins.

So several questions remain; How many penguins died on the islands or at sea before they could be collected or counted? How many of the rescued penguins will survive, and how many will continue to breed after being rehabilitated and released? How will this oil spill impact the future survival of this endangered species? How will it affect the local ecology of this island group? Will the oil enter the food chain, thus affecting the penguins and other seabirds further? At this point, the local lobster fishery has been shut down due to oil contamination. This fishery is the primary source of income for the 270 islanders living on Tristan da Cunha. How will this oil spill impact the islanders as well?

Until the penguins return in August for the next breeding season, we won’t realize the full impact of this oil spill. Even then, we still won’t have all of the answers to these questions. But, when they do return (after spending months feeding at sea in preparation for the breeding season), conservation officers on the islands will be able to conduct nest counts, which should give us some indication of how many penguins might have been lost that were not accounted for at this time. To fully understand the long-term impact the MS Oliva oil spill will have on this pristine region, and on the endangered Northern Rockhopper penguins, will require long-term monitoring. This project will require a great deal of funding – and it will not be covered by the ship’s insurers.

Hand-feeding a thin, oiled Rockhopper penguin at Tristan da Cunha. Photo by Estelle van der Merwe

The following organizations have set up special fundraisers for the rescue, rehabilitation and future monitoring of the Rockhopper penguins at Tristan da Cunha. PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY TO HELP THE PENGUINS! Thank you!

The Ocean Doctor (Dr. David Guggenheim): http://oceandoctor.org/ (Click on the green ‘donate now’ button in the right-hand column.) Or go to this link:Nightingale Island Disaster Penguin and Seabird Rescue Fund

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds: Nightingale Island Emergency Appeal

Foundation for Antarctic Research: Catastrophic Oil Spill – Tristan

Dyan deNapoli (The Penguin Lady) – author of The Great Penguin Rescue

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April 10th update on oiled Rockhopper penguin rescue at Tristan da Cunha – rescue experts from SANCCOB have arrived, and washing of the penguins will begin soon

There has not been much news coming out of Tristan over the last few days. I imagine this is due to rescuers working non-stop on the creation of a temporary rehabilitation facility on the main island (Tristan da Cunha). Once the ship from Cape Town arrived last Tuesday, the rescue team from South Africa immediately set about preparing this center and triaging thousands of oiled penguins. This team brings with them a great deal of experience managing large-scale penguin and seabird rescue operations (including the Apollo Sea, Cordigliera, and Treasure oil spill rescues). So, for today, I am taking the following news directly from the official Tristan da Cunha website. This is their most recent report, which was posted last Wednesday, April 6th.

Wednesday 6th April Report from RSPB Project Officer Katrine Herian – Tug Singapore unloads

On the afternoon of Tuesday 5 th April, after seven days at sea on board the support tug Svitzer Singapore, the SANCCOB team were able to get ashore at Tristan while offloading began of the specialist equipment and materials needed for washing the penguins. Vital vitamins and medicines also came ashore and these were already being put to use in the rehab centre’s intensive care unit later than evening. Venessa Strauss, CEO at SANCCOB (The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) reported the team were relieved to get ashore, as bad weather had kept them on board the tug Singapore one extra day which had been very frustrating. Offloading SANCCOB’s equipment from the “Svitzer Singapore” continued throughout Wednesday, and weather permitting should be completed on Thursday 7 th April.

The Svitzer Singapore (the tug from Cape Town) unloading at Tristan on April 5th. Photo by Katrine Herian

SANCCOB Team impressed with Tristan rehabilitation effort

This morning the five members of the SANCCOB team including Veterinarian Tertius Gous, met many of the islanders involved in the rehab operation as they started their daily shift tubing and feeding the penguins. The SANCCOB team were impressed with the set up at the rehab centre and praised the islanders’ efforts under difficult conditions and with very limited resources. It is now two weeks since the first oiled penguins arrived at the rehab centre, and three weeks since the OLIVA grounded on Nightingale Island.

Environmental Advisor and former SANCCOB Centre Manager, Estelle van der Merwe, watches as volunteers feed the penguins. Photo by Tina Glass

Cleaning operation planned

Today work began on installing specialist equipment at the wash-bay facility which will be housed in two government containers close to the rehab shed. Here hot water geysers will be installed for the penguin-washing operation (to remove the heavy bunker oil), as well as infrared lights in a drying room. Outside, large tanks will collect and separate the waste-oil/solids and grey water from the washing process. SANCCOB logistics manager Mariëtte Hopley reported the washing facility would be up and running on Friday, when training would begin for islanders in the washing of penguins.
The rehab shed was cleaned out and disinfected before turning it into a dedicated unit for sick and weaker penguins. Working closely with the island rehab manager Dereck Rogers, the SANCCOB team separated penguins by habitus, with the very weakest penguins being moved into the rehab shed.

 

Cleaning the rehab shed at Tristan da Cunha. Photo by Katrine Herian

Pilchards imported to supplement local fish food for penguins

By midday the first boxes of frozen pilchards had come ashore and were being defrosted and fed to the stronger penguins which are being prepared for “washing” over the weekend. Each penguin was fed one pilchard for the first day, as they need to get used to the change in diet from the local yellowtail and five fingers fish fed to them thus far.

Feeding locally caught fish to the penguins. Photo by Katrine Herian

Outer islands oil pollution assessment

Dr. Mark Whittington (of ITOPF) , and Mr. Jean-Luc Dardidon (of Le Floch), visited Middle & Nightingale Islands to assess the residual oil remaining in the bays and on the rocks after the OLIVA grounded on the 16 th March. A plan shall shortly be formalised to deal with the remaining oil, and to prevent further impact on the penguin and bird colonies.

BRIEF UPDATE:

A helicopter is supposedly on standby on another ship (the Ivan Papanin) that is waiting to head to Tristan from Cape Town. The chopper will be of tremendous help in moving penguins off of the islands, monitoring the number of birds still on the islands, and transporting clean penguins away from the oil-contaminated waters in the area. I will have another update about this in my next post (which will be later today or tomorrow).

To read more about this penguin rescue (and to see more photos), visit the official Tristan da Cunha website here. This page commences with the first rescue of oiled penguins on March 19, 2011.

PLEASE HELP BY DONATING TO THIS PENGUIN RESCUE EFFORT TODAY!

While the ship’s insurers are supposed to pay for rescue and clean-up efforts, this takes a long time – and, from what I understand, there has been little or no response from the owners and insurers of the MS Oliva. Without help from the outside world, these endangered penguins (and other seabirds) are at great risk. The islanders and the small team of rescue professionals currently on Tristan da Cunha are doing everything they can to save these oiled birds, but they need funding to carry out this critical rescue mission. Please let them know they are not alone in this – you can help them by donating generously to one of the following groups today. And please spread the word! Thank you!

The Ocean Doctor (Dr. David Guggenheim): http://oceandoctor.org/ (Click on the green ‘donate now’ button in the right-hand column.) Or go to this link: Nightingale Island Disaster Penguin and Seabird Rescue Fund

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds: Nightingale Island Emergency Appeal

Foundation for Antarctic Research: Catastrophic Oil Spill – Tristan

Dyan deNapoli (The Penguin Lady) – author of The Great Penguin Rescue

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Video of oiled Rockhopper penguins on Nightingale Island by National Geographic Traveler Andrew Evans

For those who have not seen this video yet, it’s worth posting again. (And I finally seem to have figured out the code issue, so hopefully the screen shot will remain visible this time around.) Andrew Evans, a National Geographic Traveler Digital Explorer, was onboard the MV Explorer when the MS Oliva hit Nightingale Island in the Tristan da Cunha island group. The Explorer arrived one week after the Oliva broke apart and sank, spilling it’s fuel oil and cargo of soya beans. It had been Andrew’s lifelong dream to visit Tristan da Cunha. While there, he took this short video of oil-soaked Rockhopper penguins and coughing baby fur seals – it is heart wrenching stuff. This is not the Tristan he had hoped to see.

To read Andrew’s blog posts about his travels, click here. (This will bring you to one of his posts about Nightingale Island.)

There are just 100 islanders and a handful of penguin rescue experts carrying out the massive rescue operation currently underway at Tristan da Cunha. They currently have 3,600 oiled penguins under their care, and another 1,500 clean penguins captured that they plan to transport away from the oil-contaminated waters. But they need financial assistance to keep this critical rescue effort going. You can help save these endangered penguins by donating to one of the following groups. (Your gift is tax-deductible and will be transferred directly to the islands.)

Please give generously!! Thank you!

The Ocean Doctor (Dr. David Guggenheim) via The Ocean Foundation:  http://oceandoctor.org/ (Click on the green ‘donate now’ button in the right-hand column.) Or go to this link: Nightingale Island Disaster Penguin and Seabird Rescue Fund

RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds): Nightingale Island Emergency Appeal

Foundation for Antarctic Research (via Crowdrise): Catastrophic Oil Spill – Tristan

Dyan deNapoli (The Penguin Lady) – author of The Great Penguin Rescue

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The first 24 of thousands of oiled Rockhopper penguins at Tristan da Cunha have been released!

This past Sunday marked an important turning point in the massive rescue operation currently underway at Tristan da Cunha. Of the 3,662 oiled penguins that have been collected to date, twenty-four lucky birds were released after making it through the cleaning and rehabilitation process. Here is a link to an article about this release from BirdLife International’s website: First Tristan penguins released from rehab. Katrine Herian, RSPB’S Project Officer on the island, was quoted as saying, “It was an emotional moment to see these penguins released from captivity and walk into the sea and then swim off among the waves.”

Having served as a rehabilitation supervisor during the rescue of 19,000 oiled penguins during the Treasure oil spill in 2000, I can just imagine the thrill of that moment. I say ‘imagine’ because I was in South Africa for the first three weeks of the operation, and most of our team had to leave Cape Town before any of the penguins were released. It was incredibly hard to leave without knowing how the penguins would fare – and excruciating leaving our colleagues behind where there was still so much work to be done. I always felt as though we had missed an important part of the rescue experience by not witnessing a release of some of the penguins we had worked so hard to save.

Release of first 24 Rockhopper penguins at Tristan. Photo by Trevor Glass

But the work is far from over on Tristan. They still have more than 3,600 oiled birds under their care – and thousands more oiled penguins (as well as other oiled birds and marine mammals) are still out on the islands. In addition to the oiled birds they’ve rescued, about 1,500 clean penguins have been collected to be transported to clean waters far from the area. So far, about 375 of the oiled penguins they’ve collected have died. Because it has taken so long for supplies and more help to arrive, the penguins’ chances of survival are more tenuous. The longer a penguin sits covered in oil, the more susceptible it is to illness or death.

Oil-covered Rockhopper penguins on Nightingale Island. Photo by Trevor Glass.

The good news is that the long-awaited second ship finally arrived from Cape Town earlier this week, carrying much-needed supplies and an experienced rescue team. Included on this team are Mariette Hopley, a superhuman dynamo who is a logistical genius. Mariette oversaw the creation and operation of the Salt River Penguin Crisis Centre during the Treasure rescue effort – this was a satellite facility that housed 16,000 of the 19,000 oiled penguins collected from Robben and Dassen Islands. Also on the ship was Venessa Strauss, current CEO of SANCCOB, the premier penguin rescue center in South Africa. They’ll be joining former colleague Estelle van der Merwe who, as previous Centre Manager of SANCCOB, served as the Treasure Crisis Manager overseeing the entire operation. Estelle was a member of the first rescue team to arrive at Tristan da Cunha following the sinking of the MS Oliva, and is currently serving as Environmental Advisor for this disaster. Although the task ahead of these experts, the Tristan Conservation Team, and the 100 islanders working to save the oiled birds is almost incomprehensible, I feel a great sense of relief knowing that these three extraordinarily capable women are on the rescue team.

Estelle van der Merwe with oiled Rockhoppers at Tristan da Cunha.

I encourage everyone who cares even a little bit about penguins or other birds, or about animals and nature in general to consider making a donation to help save these endangered penguins. There are just 150,000-200,000 Northern Rockhopper penguins left on earth, and most of them live in this remote island group. Conservation experts on the islands have estimated that up to 40,000 penguins could become oiled. This spill could have a devastating impact on their rapidly dwindling population. You can donate to help save these birds through one of the following groups. Please give generously! Thank you!

The Ocean Doctor (Dr. David Guggenheim) via The Ocean Foundation:  http://oceandoctor.org/ (Click on the green ‘donate now’ button in the right-hand column.) Or go to this link: Nightingale Island Disaster Penguin and Seabird Rescue Fund

RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds): Nightingale Island Emergency Appeal

Foundation for Antarctic Research (via Crowdrise): Catastrophic Oil Spill – Tristan

BirdLife International’s “Community” page will feature regular updates on the rescue effort, so check it often for the latest news. Here is their Tristan report from yesterday: Island gets set to wash thousands of penguins.

Thank you!

Dyan deNapoli (The Penguin Lady) – author of The Great Penguin Rescue

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MS Oliva oil spill at Tristan da Cunha finally hits the headlines – funding urgently needed for oiled penguin rescue operation

When the MS Oliva slammed into Nightingale Island on Wednesday, March 16th, spilling 300,000 gallons of fuel oil that oiled thousands of endangered penguins, one would have thought the world would have stood up and taken notice. But this tiny island, which is part of the Tristan da Cunha island group lying halfway between South Africa and South America, is so small and so remote that most people have never even heard of it. There are no people living on this 1.5 square mile speck of land – however, Nightingale and the few other tiny islands that make up this island group are inhabited by millions of seabirds, including the Northern Rockhopper penguin. Nearby Tristan da Cunha is the most isolated inhabited island on the planet – just 265 people live there.

Map of Tristan da Cunha islands

Perhaps if this oil spill had occurred in a more populated region, more people would have heard about it. Or, for those of us living in the US, if the spill had occurred in US waters, it might have been in our newspapers and on our nightly news. Perhaps if there were not other earth-shattering events occurring at the same time (Japan, Libya, etc), news of this environmental disaster would have made it into the headlines. Perhaps if it was a story about people or a war, and not about a bunch of birds, it might have attracted the attention of mainstream media. Perhaps. But it was none of these things – and so it has been eclipsed by other ‘more important’ news stories.

But that finally changed this weekend, when the story was picked up by a few major news outlets – in particular CNN, who ran the story yesterday on their website and television network. This headline ran on their website on April 3rd: Penguin rescue operation under way after South Atlantic oil spill.

We have Dr. David Guggenheim (the Ocean Doctor) to thank for making this happen. Dr. Guggenheim just happened to be on a ship travelling to Tristan da Cunha when this oil spill occurred. It had been his life-long dream – since the age of eleven – to see penguins in the wild. He could never have imagined that, instead of seeing lively Rockhoppers bouncing from rock to rock, he would see them hunkered down by the shoreline, their bodies encased in thick, black oil. Even the plumes of feathers above their eyes that are normally bright yellow and partially erect, were solid black and plastered to the sides of their heads.

 

Oiled Rockhopper penguin on Nightingale Island. Photo by Andrew Evans

On his journey throughout the southern oceans, Dr. Guggenheim had been regularly blogging and video conferencing with students in their classrooms. Had he not been at Tristan da Cunha at just the right time, with just the right technology, and just the right passion for our oceans, we still might not know about the MS Oliva oil spill and its impact on the penguins and other animals there. Also fortuitously – or miraculously, some might say – the crew of the ship he was travelling on (the Prince Albert II) had been trained in high-seas rescues, and they were able to rescue the 22-man crew from the MS Oliva before it broke apart and sank.

Prince Albert II crew members rescuing crew from the MS Oliva. Photo by Kristine Hannon

Because Dr. Guggenheim was on the scene and began posting about it right away, word began to spread about this latest penguin crisis. At least in online communities. Were it not for social media, who knows how long it might have been before we learned of it here in the states, or in other parts of the world. And yesterday afternoon – at long last – CNN interviewed Dr. Guggenheim about the oil spill on one of their international news programs. The clip from that broadcast can be seen here: Dr. David Guggenheim on CNN.

Now, perhaps, more media outlets will take notice. And we need them to. Although the ship’s insurers will eventually be forced to pay for the rescue efforts, until then, rescue workers on the islands are in desperate need of supplies and funding. Just 100 islanders and a few penguin specialists are caring for thousands of penguins that have been rescued from the oil spill. Of the estimated 10,000-20,000 penguins that have been oiled, a few thousand have been captured. The size and scope of the task they face is truly daunting. You can help the islanders save their penguins by making a donation through one of the organizations listed below. All of the funds raised go directly to the islands to support the penguin rescue effort currently underway.

Rescue worker feeding Rockhopper penguin at Tristan. Photo via CNN

The Ocean Foundation fundraiser (set up by the Ocean Doctor): Nightingale Island Disaster Penguin and Seabird Rescue Fund

Crowdrise fundraiser (set up by Sandra Birnhak, Director of the Foundation for Antarctic Research): Catastrophic Oil Spill – Tristan

RSPB fundraiser (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds): Nightingale Island Emergency Appeal

Please donate as generously as you can! These penguins were just declared an endangered species in 2008, and your help is needed to keep their fragile population viable. I will be posting another update about the current state of the rescue effort – but for now, you can learn more by reading the CNN article.

Thank you!

Dyan deNapoli (The Penguin Lady) – Penguin expert and author of The Great Penguin Rescue

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Dr. David Guggenheim (The Ocean Doctor) to give an urgent briefing about the Tristan oil spill on Thursday, March 31st at 10 am – view the live webinar or attend it live in DC

Dear fellow penguin and nature lovers,

I received a call today from Heather at The Ocean Foundation, alerting me to this urgent briefing tomorrow by Dr. David Guggenheim (otherwise known as the Ocean Doctor). Dr. Guggenheim just happened to be near Tristan da Cunha when the MS Oliva slammed into Nightingale Island on March 16th, spilling its fuel oil and oiling thousands of endangered Rockhopper penguins. Please see the press release below for more details. For those in the DC area, you can attend his talk in person at 10:00 am at the National Audubon Society 1150 Connecticut Ave #600. All others can watch the live webinar from 10:00 am to noon here: http://anymeeting.com/oceandoctor1

Urgent Briefing and Webinar on Oil Spill Disaster at Nightingale Island, Second Largest Population of Seabirds in the World

For those in Washington, DC, please attend this briefing live at 10am-12pm Eastern Time, Thursday March 31, 2011 : National Audubon Society, 1150 Connecticut Ave NW # 600, Washington, DC 20036-4132.

For those unable to attend in person, Dr. Guggenheim’s presentation will be broadcast via webinar and you can participate using the following link: http://anymeeting.com/oceandoctor1

Please join Dr. David E. Guggenheim, Senior Fellow at The Ocean Foundation, for an urgent briefing and strategy session regarding a major environmental disaster still unfolding at Nightingale Island, part of the most remote inhabited island group in the world, located in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean.

Dr. Guggenheim, who was on site shortly after the disaster occurred, will present details of this recent disaster, including photos and video. Trevor Glass, director of the Tristan da Cunha Department of Conservation, will participate by telephone from Tristan da Cunha.

Background of Oil Spill Disaster at Nightingale Island

Nearby Tristan da Cunha, where the only settlement exists, has a population of less than 300. Dr. Guggenheim was aboard the Silversea vessel, “Prince Albert II” which was in the area when, for reasons still under investigation, the 75,300 ton Greek freighter “Oliva,” en route from Santos, Brazil to Singapore with a cargo of soya beans, ran aground onto the rocks at Nightingale Island’s northwestern corner on March 16th. By early the following morning, when the Prince Albert II arrived on scene, the “Oliva”’s captain reported water in the engine room and the ship had a significant fuel leak from its tanks carrying 300,000 gallon load of heavy marine oil.

The Prince Albert II’s expedition team — specially trained in the operation of Zodiacs in heavy weather — rescued the 12 crew still aboard the Oliva. The expedition team reported heavy oil conditions in the water. Less than 12 hours later, Oliva broke apart on the rocks and the stern section which housed the crew, rolled onto its side and into the waves.

Once ashore at Tristan de Cunha on March 19th, Dr. Guggenheim met with Trevor Glass, Director of Tristan da Cunha’s Department of Conservation. Mr. Glass reported that oil had completely encircled Nightingale Island and that many oiled penguins, albatross and other seabirds, along with subantarctic fur seals,were observed. The Tristan de Cunha island group represents the second largest concentration of sea birds in the world. Half of the world’s endangered Northern Rockhopper penguin population is found here. Nightingale Island holds more than 100,000 pairs of Northern Rockhopper penguins, 20,000 pairs of albatrosses including the yellow nose albatross, and 2,000,000 pairs of Broadbill prions. The island is also home to the highly-endangered Tristan Bunting. Only 50 pairs remain in the world, all of which are found on Nightingale Island. Over the past week, the oil has encircled nearby Inaccessible Island, a World Heritage Site. Today (March 28), Dr. Guggenheim spoke with Mr. Glass and learned that the situation remains dire, efforts now being hampered by 50-60 knot winds and a shortage of supplies. The Oliva continues to leak oil.

Wildlife rescue efforts are underway, however the remoteness of Tristan de Cunha, which has no landing strip, means that the nearest help is a 4-7 day boat ride away (from Cape Town, South Africa). Trevor’s team is not equipped to deal with an oil spill of this magnitude and outside assistance is desperately needed. The Prince Albert II was able to supply Mr. Glass’ team with parkas, gum boots and gloves before its departure, and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), based in Cape Town, is providing some assistance.

Thank you!

David

David E. Guggenheim, Ph.D., the “Ocean Doctor”

Senior Fellow, The Ocean Foundation

Director, Cuba Marine Research & Conservation Program

http://www.OceanDoctor.org | http://www.TheOceanFoundation.org

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Update on MS Oliva oil spill at Tristan da Cunha islands – supply ship and small rescue team finally on their way from Cape Town.

Wow, where to start? It’s been a whirlwind week. I’ve been away since Friday – thus the radio silence for the last several days – and I’m turning right around to hit the road again for a number of author appearances this week. I’ll be on the road until Saturday, so please forgive the lack of updates during the coming week. Although I will do my best to post from the road, time and internet access may make it a bit challenging. O.K., enough about that – now on the important stuff, and the real reason why you (and I) are here.

There is both good news and bad news coming from the Tristan da Cunha islands. The good news is that a ship carrying supplies and five experienced penguin rehabilitators from SANCCOB has FINALLY left Cape Town. More than a week was lost jumping through several political hoops before they got permission to sail to the islands. With every passing day, the penguins are growing weaker from hunger and from the toxic effects of being smothered in oil, so time is of the essence.  The ship is carrying frozen fish and penguin washing supplies to the area. But these supplies are limited and the penguins are many. Bad weather is also hampering the rescue efforts – and will likely slow the ship’s progress as well. For more details about this, please see this article in yesterday’s Cape Argus newspaper: Birds rescued from Tristan oil spill. (The Cape Argus site is now all wonky – but this link has a copy of John Yeld’s original article.)

Briefly, here is where things stand: Approximately 1,000 oiled Rockhopper penguins have been rescued, and are being cared for by 100 islanders. Local fishermen have been catching fish to feed the penguins until the frozen fish arrives with the long-awaited ship. Another 1,000 or so penguins that have not yet been oiled have been corralled to keep them from entering the water and getting oiled. The plan is to transport them far from the oil-polluted waters, and release them into clean waters. Penguins have excellent homing instincts, and hopefully the area will be cleaned of the oil by the time the penguins find their way home.

This same strategy was used very effectively once before. During the rescue of African penguins from the Treasure oil spill in June of 2000, 19,506 clean penguins were transported 500 miles away from the oiled waters of Table Bay and released at Cape Recife in Port Elizabeth to swim back to their islands. Which they did in about two week’s time. They arrived just as workers had finished cleaning up the spill. This was a risky experiment at the time – nobody had tried this technique before, but at that point in the rescue, there was no more room to house another 20,000 penguins (on top of the 20,000 oiled penguins already at the rescue centers), and there were not enough people to care for them either. Luckily, their experiment worked. Based on this success, conservation workers proposed utilitzing this strategy in future spills. Which, for better or worse, they now have the opportunity to try again.

(For an animated map of the epic swim made by three of the Treasure penguins from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town, click here.)

Sadly, there are thousands of oiled penguins (an estimated 10,000-20,000) still waiting to be rescued on the Tristan islands. The stark reality is that there just is not the manpower or the resources available to be able to rescue many of these birds. This is truly a devastating blow for the endangered Northern Rockhopper penguin.

Heavily oiled Rockhopper at Tristan. Photo by Andrew Evans

I must leave shortly, so I apologize for not providing more details in this post. I’m including links to a few sites that should fill in some of the gaps for now. For continued updates on the oil spill rescue and recovery efforts, I recommend the following websites:

The official Tristan da Cunha website about the MS Oliva spill: http://www.tristandc.com/newsmsolivahelp.php

The ACAP website has daily updates: http://www.acap.aq/latest-news/breaking-news-bulk-carrier-ms-oliva-has-run-aground-on-tristans-nightingale-island

The Ocean Doctor (Dr. David Guggenheim): http://oceandoctor.org/

To donate to this vitally important rescue effort, please visit The Ocean Foundation.

Sandra Birnhak is also collecting donations for the rescue effort through her Crowdwise page here.

Please continue to spread the word everyone! And many thanks to all of you for sharing your concern for these beautiful seabirds.

Dyan deNapoli – Penguin expert and author of The Great Penguin Rescue.

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Rescue fund established to help the oiled penguins at Tristan da Cunha islands – please donate generously!

When the carrier MS Oliva ran aground last Wednesday morning on Nightingale Island – a tiny, 1.5 square-mile speck in the middle of the Southern Atlantic Ocean – thousands of seabirds on this isolated (and nearly untouched by man) island were suddenly put in dire peril. Approximately 200,000 endangered Northern Rockhopper penguins live on the few small islands that are part of the Tristan da Cunha island group. Local conservation officials have estimated that at least 20,000 penguins will be oiled from the fuel oil that spilled from the ship as it broke apart and sank. Other seabird species inhabiting these islands have also been observed with oil on their bodies. I almost hate to say it out loud, but the outlook is grim.

MS Oliva broken apart at Nightingale Island. Photo by Tristan Conservation Team

Trevor Glass, one of the Tristan Conservation Officers, has been working around the clock since the ship grounded on March 16th. After conducting an emergency survey of the area several days ago he was quoted as saying, “The scene at Nightingale is dreadful, as there is an oil slick encircling the island. The Tristan Conservation Team are doing all they can to clean up the penguins that are currently coming ashore. It is a disaster!”

Three oiled Rockhoppers at Tristan. Photo by Trevor Glass

The task they face is truly daunting – there are only 100 islanders available to help with the rescue efforts. And while SANCCOB and IBRRC have teams on stand-by, getting supplies and wildlife rescue teams there from other countries is proving to be a tremendous challenge. Not only are distance and accessibility major factors (the only way to get there is a 4-7 day journey by sea), there are political hoops to jump through to get foreigners out these islands. (For more on that, see this article in Tuesday’s Cape Argus newspaper: Rescuers on standby after island disaster.) But the following blog post from Jay Holcomb, Director Emeritus for IBRRC, seems to indicate that a team from SANCCOB might be on its way there now. It was written the day prior to the Cape Argus article, so it’s not entirely clear where they stand at the moment. “Catastrophic South Atlantic Oil Spill Threatens Endangered Rockhopper Penguins.”

Large group of oiled Rockhopper penguins at Tristan. Photo by Tristan Conservation Team

Many concerned people have been sending me messages this week, asking how they can help the stricken penguins on the Tristan da Cunha islands. To everyone wanting to help, I have some good news! The Ocean Foundation has just set up a fund to help save the penguins and other oiled seabirds affected by this oil spill. While it should be noted that the ship’s insurers will be required to pay for all costs associated with the animal rescue efforts and the removal of oil from the environment, it may be some time before these fines are paid, and the handful of rescue workers currently out on the islands trying to save the birds are in desperate need of funding to carry them over until then. PLEASE donate as generously as you possibly can – the penguins desperately need you!

To make a donation to help save the oiled seabirds at Tristan da Cunha, visit The Ocean Foundation‘s website. Your donation to the Nightingale Island Disaster Penguin and Seabird Rescue Fund is tax-deductible, and will go directly to help the teams working to save the oiled seabirds at Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha and Inaccessible Island. There is also a link to this donation form on the Ocean Doctor’s website (Dr. David Guggenheim).

Please help spread the word about this rescue fund. Thank you for your help!

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