BirdLife International An oiled Cormorant Zoom In

Europe's worst ever Atlantic coast oil spill disaster

01-03-2000

On 12 December 1999, the oil tanker Erika broke in two in heavy seas off the Brittany coast, about 70 km south of Brest. The vessel was 25 years old, registered in Malta, and on charter to the Belgian-French oil company TotalFina. It was carrying about 30,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil of which 15,000 tonnes escaped. The remaining 15,000 tonnes was retained in the aft section of the vessel which sank some 74 km off the Point of Penmar'ch. Although some minor oil leakage is still occurring from the sunken vessel, most of the leaks have been plugged. Moreover, experts claim there is little chance of most of the retained oil escaping, because the low sea temperature has virtually caused it to solidify. However, this also makes any recovery operation difficult and it is unlikely to get underway for 3Ð4 months. 400 tonnes of the escaped oil were recovered from the sea in the days before Christmas but the rest started coming ashore on the French coast around Christmas time.

At the outset, efforts by the French authorities to stop the spread of the oil with barrages and with pumping vessels were thwarted by ferocious storms, which drove the oil rapidly ashore. Around 400 km of the French coastline, from south Brittany to the Î'le d'Oléron has been affected, with oil penetrating into shallow bays and estuaries. Oil (and oiled birds) has even been reported from Spain. The oil started off as heavy fuel oil but has changed in consistency after prolonged contact with seawater. The lighter, more volatile elements have evaporated off, and this, combined with the low sea temperatures, has turned the oil into a thick gooey mess. Gales have also fragmented some of the oil, facilitating its ability to penetrate and coat rock crevices. Beaches are being cleaned up, but each fresh tide is still bringing new deposits ashore. The extent of the oil has damaged a number of wildlife reserves and Important Bird Areas (IBAs), including one quarter of the coast's Natura 2000 sites.

Already, this is the worst spill in terms of seabird mortality ever to have hit the Atlantic coast of Europe, despite the actual amount of oil spilled being relatively low in comparison with some other accidents (see Table 1). The worst previous disaster in Europe occurred in 1981 in the Baltic where a spill from the tanker Stylis was estimated to have killed up to 500,000 birds, mostly auks. There are two main reasons why the French spill has been so devastating. Firstly, it occurred in mid-winter, when there are high wintering concentrations of birds in the Bay of Biscay, including shorebirds. Other disasters, like the Amoco Cadiz and the Torrey Canyon, took place in March when many auks had already vacated the affected areas to return closer to their breeding colonies. Secondly, the unusually high onshore winds have quickly spread the oil very wide and rapidly affected a long coastal margin with high wintering concentrations of wildfowl and waders.

Reports in January from the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO, BirdLife in France) tell of hundreds of birds entering treatment centres daily and the pressure on the LPO's resources is huge. The LPO has co-ordinated a massive operation, involving around 600 volunteers to patrol the beaches and assist with cleaning birds.

By the end of January 2000, a total of almost 61,000 oiled birds had been handled, of which nearly 52,000 were dead and nearly 9,000 oiled but still alive (although their survival chances are low, especially if they were heavily oiled and ingested oil). This means that the known number of dead birds already far exceeds the estimated total of birds killed in the United Kingdom (UK) by the Torrey Canyon disaster in 1967, the previous worst incident on the Atlantic coast (Table 1). The final column in Table 1 estimates the total number of dead seabirds, making allowances for the fact that a far greater proportion of birds die at sea and are never recovered than are actually brought ashore. Other estimates put the number of dead birds at a far higher level Ð perhaps as high as 200,000 or 300,000 birds in this disaster.

Already more than 40 different species have been recorded as casualties of the Erika spill. Most (90%) are auks and 79% of these are Common Guillemots Uria aalge, the majority of them immature birds. Some of the victims are pelagic species in winter, such as Little Auk Alle alle, Northern Gannet Morus bassanus and European Storm-petrel Hydrobates. Significant numbers of Common Scoter Melanitta nigra, divers (Gavia), grebes (Podiceps), skuas (including 25 Great Skuas Catharacta skua) and Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla, also died.

The penetration of the oil into coastal habitats has affected a separate community of birds that are usually seldom touched by such spills. Thus the species oiled include Little Egret Egretta garzetta, coot Fulica atra ducks, Brent Goose Branta bernicla, several wader species, and even a Water Rail Rallus aquaticus. Towards the end of January, such coastal birds supplied many of the new victims coming into the treatment centres. There are particular concerns for the Brent Goose, of which France harbours a significant proportion of the European wintering population.

The high proportion of dead auks may have significant conservation implications in both France and the UK. Brittany has a relict population of breeding Common Guillemots and Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica (250 pairs each) and Razorbills Alca torda (50 pairs), and auk colonies in south-west England are also at a low ebb. Neither region has recovered its former status since suffering badly from the Torrey Canyon (1967) and the Amoco Cadiz (1978), and this latest oil spill is another body blow. Many of the oiled birds are ringed, and first indications are that many come from colonies in the Irish Sea and west and north Scotland. We know that the Bay of Biscay is a major wintering ground for these UK populations, especially immature birds. The Common Guillemot colonies in Wales have already suffered some decline following the Sea Empress spill in 1996, and this latest disaster will almost certainly depress them further. However, as a high proportion of the victims of the Erika are immature birds, any further colony declines may not be detected for several years. Fortunately, the 'Seabird 2000' census (see World Birdwatch Dec. 1998, p. 6) means that the major colonies were surveyed in 1999, so there is a good baseline for monitoring in future.

TotalFina has pledged US$6.4 million to help with the clean-up operation and to pump-out the Erika's remaining fuel cargo. Compensation for people like the shellfishermen, whose livelihood has been lost for years to come, is expected to come from the insurers and from the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPCF), a pooled fund into which oil companies pay to cover accidents like this. The LPO's expenses are currently running at ca. 6Ð7 million francs (US$960,000Ð1,120,000). The LPO is bringing a compensation-seeking action in the French courts against 'those responsible'. However, claims like this can take years to process.

During the next few years, the full impact of the spill on bird populations along the Atlantic coast will be felt. Surely it is now time to introduce international maritime regulations, or at least regulations for European ports, to accelerate the timetable for making double-hulled tankers a statutory requirement and to put an end to a system whereby oil companies like TotalFina can compromise marine safety and the environment by going for the lowest available transport costs?