Newsletter / Blog
2011-04-09 Tristan da Cunha Wednesday 6th April, 2011
After seven days at sea, a
five-member specialist team has arrived on Tristran da Cunha to lend
their expertise to cleaning the thousands of Northern Rockhopper
Penguins affected by the oil spill which followed the grounding of cargo
ship MS Oliva on Nightingale Island.
After a day's delay caused
by rough weather, the team from SANCCOB (the Southern African Foundation
for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) were able to get ashore, and the
equipment and materials they had brought with them were offloaded. The
materials include vitamin supplements and medicines, which are already
being put to use in the rehab centre set up by the Tristan islanders
The
SANCCOB team met many of the islanders involved in the rehab operation
as they began their daily shift "tubing" and feeding the penguins. (When
penguins first arrive on Tristan they are dehydrated, so are given
electrolyte solution with a tube and syringe.) They were impressed with
the set-up at the rehab centre, and praised the islanders' efforts under
difficult conditions and with very limited resources.
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 to remove the heavy
bunker oil from the penguins, which will then be moved to a drying room
equipped with infrared lights. Outside, large tanks will collect and
separate the waste-oil/solids and grey water from the washing process.
SANCCOB
logistics manager Mariƫtte Hopley reported that the washing facility
would be up and running on Friday, when training would begin for
islanders in the washing of penguins.
Working closely with the
island rehab manager Dereck Rogers, the SANCCOB team separated penguins
by "habitus" (physical type and condition). The rehab shed was cleaned
out and disinfected, before turning it into a dedicated unit for the
very weakest 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.
Dr. Mark Whittington of
ITOPF (a not-for-profit organisation established on behalf of the
world's shipowners, to promote an effective response to marine chemical
pollution incidents), and Mr. Jean-Luc Dardidon of Le Floch Depollution
(a company specialising in dealing with the aftermath of oil spills),
visited Middle and Nightingale Islands to assess the residual oil
remaining in the bays and on the rocks. A plan will shortly be
formalised to deal with the remaining oil, and to prevent further impact
on the penguin and bird colonies.
|