Australia alert over oil leak on Great Barrier Reef

A Chinese ship has run aground off north-eastern Australia, sparking an alert of an oil leak into the Great Barrier Reef

The Shen Neng I, carrying 950 tonnes of oil, ran aground 70km (43 miles) off the east coast of Great Keppel Island. Patches have been seen but there has so far been no major loss of oil. A light aircraft is being despatched to spray chemical dispersant. Conservationists say they fear for a major accident in the future.

"Early morning flights over the carrier show a small number of oil patches about two nautical miles south-east from the ship," said Queensland's state government in a statement.

Capricorn Conservation Council spokesman Ian Herbert told the Australian Associated Press he feared the latest incident was "a sign of things to come". "We are outraged that no marine pilot is required on ships between Gladstone and Cairns," he said.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest reef system and extends for more than 2,500km



Wow, this will be a huge disaster if it gets worse. Hopefully they can clean this up before more sizeable amounts of oil leak to the Barrier Reef.

Not Good.

news.bbc.co.uk...

www.stuff.co.nz...

www.google.com...



[edit on 3-4-2010 by grantbeed]

[edit on 3-4-2010 by grantbeed]

Let me show you something. It is quite interesting.

Scientists Find That Tons Of Oil Seep Into The Gulf Of Mexico Each Year

Twice an Exxon Valdez spill worth of oil seeps into the Gulf of Mexico every year, according to a new study that will be presented January 27 at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

This happens all over the world. Oil is not scarce. It seep from thousands of places on the sea floor.

Yes, it can effect the local sea life for a few years. But it will not destroy it.

Exxon Valdez-

It was hard to find a non sensationalized account of where the pollution is now. This one has viewpoints from several places.

Is the Exxon Valdez spill site finally clean?

What I find ironic is that crude oil is a natural material from the earth. Yes if it gets dumped in a huge quantity in a area, it will impact the area. It seems that the ecological impact is not as bad as environmentalists want us to believe.

Oh well, thanks for the read.

Bugger, I was planning a fishing trip up there in a few weeks time. Just what exactly is chemical dispersant?

Does the seventh siign of hopi prophecy have to repeat itself so much, we get it already lol

Edit after a quick search I see there is much contraversy over the use of the dispersant but it appears to be a good idea at first but,

Fish and other marine life in the larvae stage or juvenile stages are more prone to the toxicity effects of oil and dispersants. Therefore it is unlikely dispersants will be used near commercial fisheries, important breeding grounds, fish nurseries, shellfish aquaculture etc. unless it is to protect a more important environmental resource.

And that was from the tanker owners themselves, correct me if im wrong but isnt the reef all of the above

[edit on 3-4-2010 by polarwarrior]

I was thinking to myself what kind of carrier is this? It's only carrying 950 tons of oil, whereas an oil tanker generally carries upwards of 550,000 tons. So, I looked it up and it's a coal carrier. So, the oil it's carrying is for propulsion only. Hopefully they can patch it up in short order.

Originally posted by endisnighe
Let me show you something. It is quite interesting.

Scientists Find That Tons Of Oil Seep Into The Gulf Of Mexico Each Year

Twice an Exxon Valdez spill worth of oil seeps into the Gulf of Mexico every year, according to a new study that will be presented January 27 at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

This happens all over the world. Oil is not scarce. It seep from thousands of places on the sea floor.

Yes, it can effect the local sea life for a few years. But it will not destroy it.

Exxon Valdez-

It was hard to find a non sensationalized account of where the pollution is now. This one has viewpoints from several places.

Is the Exxon Valdez spill site finally clean?

What I find ironic is that crude oil is a natural material from the earth. Yes if it gets dumped in a huge quantity in a area, it will impact the area. It seems that the ecological impact is not as bad as environmentalists want us to believe.

Oh well, thanks for the read.

Ships going to Mexico, Mexican ships and oil rigs all discharge oil without any regulations by the Mexican government and the currents in the gulf carry this oil to the US coastlines.

Any non US ship can pump out there bilges over 200 miles out and the US can do nothing about it.
Chinese ships dump waste oil on the high seas all the time.
As long as the Chinese government does nothing about it they get away with it.(A number of these cargo ships are owned by the Chinese government so they care less)
Plus the Chinese have been seen dumping large amounts of shore waste by loading it on ships that are heading to other countries and dumping it along the way.
Some Chinese shipping companies make good money by doing this.

The US navy has found many major oil slicks after these Chinese ships have passed through areas.

[edit on 3-4-2010 by ANNED]

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II


Yes, it's carrying coal indeed. Not a huge amount of oil so hopefully they can clean this up quickly and it does not cause too much damage to one the most beautiful and important wildlife habitats in the world.

g

Not on my reef!!!!!!

Gaaaah

15 Miles of course it pretty unusual I would think, with GPS tracking etc, and they would have done this trip hundreds if not thousands of times... Were they drunk, trying to take a short cut, or what?

reply to post by ghostsoldier


they rammed at full speed, im livid. id rather a boat sink than our reef trashed...cold i know. But that reef is so important.

Latest news on the Stricken Ship and Oil Spill -

About 2 metric tons of oil have already spilled from the 950 metric tons of fuel on board, creating a 100-metre slick that stretches 3 kilometres, Marine Safety Queensland said in a statement.

Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh said a boom will be put around the ship by Tuesday to contain oil leaking from the hull. Aircraft sprayed chemical dispersants in an effort to break up the slick Sunday.

It's in such a delicate part of the reef and the ship is in such a badly damaged state, managing this process will require all the specialist expertise we can bring to bear," she told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. She said it could take weeks to dislodge the ship.

Doesn't sound good. What a shame.

The ship's owner, Shenzhen Energy, a subsidiary of the Cosco Group that is China's largest shipping operator, could be fined up to 1 million Australian dollars (US$920,000) for straying from a shipping lane used by 6,000 cargo vessels each year, Bligh said

www.ctv.ca...

Certainly any oil leak is bad, but at least 2 metric tons is not a whole lot. Let's hope that no more oil leaks from the ship. I am also concerned about the affect run-off from the mainland, and waste from tourism has on the great barrier reef. When I went snorkeling there a few years back, the water was covered in petrol. Only noticed after I got out, not sure where the fuel came from though - but it can't be good for the environment.

[edit on 5/4/2010 by C0bzz]

Grounded Shen Neng 1 may have tried illegal shortcut through Great Barrier Reef

THE Chinese-registered ship now dragging against the Great Barrier Reef could have been attempting an illegal shortcut when it ran aground on Saturday night.

The Shen Neng 1 hit Douglas Shoal at full speed.

The Courier-Mail reports the Shen Neng 1 was 15km outside the shipping lane and near a known shortcut between reefs in Queensland's world famous marine playground when it crashed into coral.

Commercial and non-commercial fishermen said they saw at least one bulk carrier duck south of Douglas Shoal every day.

news .com.au

If this is true then they should face the full brunt of the law (and some more). IDIOTS.

reply to post by C0bzz


I agree. How stupid, taking shortcuts at full speed across such an amazing wildlife haven.

Idiots.

I was watching this on MSNBC this morning.

Very sad for one of the great wonders of the world.

I certainly hope they take care of it soon and without much damage to the very fragile biosphere there.

If they are found to have been taking an illegal short cut, what are the reprocussions?

~Keeper

reply to post by tothetenthpower

The ship's owner, Shenzhen Energy, a subsidiary of the Cosco Group that is China's largest shipping operator, could be fined up to 1 million Australian dollars (US$920,000) for straying from a shipping lane used by 6,000 cargo vessels each year, Bligh said

A small price to pay for wrecking something so important.

LATEST -

Cargo ship crew charged over Great Barrier Reef route .

The men, from Vietnam and South Korea, will appear in an Australian court on Monday, accused of taking their coal carrier on an unauthorised route.

It is alleged that the vessel was not registered with the Reef Vessel Tracking System and failed to respond to attempts by the authorities to establish contact. If found guilty, the men could face a maximum fine of more than A$200,000 (US$205,000).

I'm glad someone will be held accountable for this mess. Imagine the costs of clearing up this disaster.

Stupid fools.


news.bbc.co.uk...

[edit on 11-4-2010 by grantbeed]