Ocean Politics and the Future

I know it is cliché, but I honestly could not think of a better title for this post.

SkyTruth
obtained these new photographs, apparently taken from a nearby vessel
shortly after the fire was extinguished. The photos clearly show the
severe damage sustained by the Montara oil platform and the attached
West Atlas drill rig. These photos are from an anonymous source, so
their integrity can't vouch for, but they closely resemble this
post-fire photo taken by media in the same period and so seem to be
legitimate. WDCS join SkyTruth in thanking the photographer who took
these shots and is allowing us to make them available to the public. 

In the past few hours the news has spread through Australian and International media that the spill has been plugged. The company has said that a small fire remains on the rig, but ostensibly the immediate disaster is contained ... but it is far, far from over.

Oil and its toxic impacts will remain in the region for years to come. The animals who call this place home will be living with their impacts in their food chains and in themselves for an unknown amount of time.

As I write this I am reminded of news that came to the fore many years after the Exxon disaster had fallen from conscious minds.

Orca were photographed in oil after the 1989 ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill, but preliminary damage assessments did not definitively link mortalities to the spill and could not evaluate recovery.

2 separate orca populations were monitories 5 yr prior to and for 16 yr after the spill. The two populations suffered losses of 33 and 41%, respectively, in the year following the spill. Sixteen years after 1989, the first populations had not recovered to pre-spill numbers and its rate of increase was significantly less than that of other resident pods that were not associated with the spill. The second population, which lost 9 members following the spill, continued to decline. Although there may be other contributing factors, the loss of important individuals, including reproductive-age females, accelerated this population’s trajectory toward extinction.

The synchronous losses of unprecedented numbers of orca from 2 ecologically and genetically separate groups and the absence of other obvious perturbations strengthens the link between the mortalities and lack of recovery, and the ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill.

(Source: Matkin C, Saulitis E, Ellis G, Olesiuk P and Rice S, Ongoing population-level impacts on killer whales Orcinus orca following the ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, Marine Ecologic Progress Series, 356:269-281, 2008)

Much has transpired since the last blog entry. The spill, of course, continues to flow out into the marine environment and atmosphere (not forgetting that light crude and gas are both leaking), the Government’s rapid assessment has reported significant number of animals within the slick ... oh, and now the rig is on fire!

The company which runs the well, PTTEP Australasia, has told the media that the fire broke out as it made another attempt to plug a leak deep underwater at the Montara rig. Thankfully, no workers were onboard the rig when the fire started and workers on the West Triton relief rig, stationed 1.2 miles (2km) away, were safe from the enormous blaze.

By anyone’s standards this is now a major environmental disaster, and politicians are baying for blood. At the same time there has been another hit to the reputation of the oil and gas industry, with confirmation of a second gas leak in the Timor Sea. Without doubt the next week will focus on who is to blame, and less attention will be focused on the enormity of the tragedy.

But other more probing questions have also started to work their way in the quiet background of public discourse.

Ten weeks into the uncontrolled and continuing oil and gas spill from the Montara wellhead, with anywhere from 10 to 20 million litres of oil spilled into the ocean, the Rapid Assessment of the Impacts of the Montara Oil Leak on Birds, Cetaceans and Marine Reptiles has positively identified at least 4 species of cetaceans - 462 individuals (along with 23 species of birds, 2 species of turtles and 4 species of sea snakes).

Andrew Crook, on Crikey.com, has asked will Timor Sea oil slick be curtains for bluefin tuna? Good question really, given the tuna's status is already precarious after decades of over fishing and the spill is in the bluefin spawning grounds. Perhaps his question will spark some further investigation in other areas of the media

The impacts for most marine life in this region are likely to be huge, and on this note WDCS has once again made a public comment into the media sphere “We strongly concur with the assessment recommendations a four-five year minimum time frame for the long term monitoring of the impact to cetacean behavior and populations numbers as a result of the spill, and in truth we believe it should be more like a decade. The Monitoring Plan is silent on the duration of commitment the Government has secured from industry. For all we can determine, they may monitor for a year and then walk away. A renegotiated plan must extend monitoring for at least ten years.” Dr Mike Bossley, WDCS Australasian Managing Director.

“We still don’t see the commitment we expect from the Australian Government. If they were serious about mitigating the threats of oil spills they would immediately freeze all new oil and gas exploration applications; develop much stronger conditions and controls over all oil and gas rig and shipping activities including contingency plans before approvals are given; and identify and fully protect all whale and dolphin critical habitats in a network of marine sanctuaries before any oil and gas acreage is released again” Dr Bossley concluded.

As we drag ourselves towards the bad news that week 11 will certainly hold, it is difficult to stay optimistic about this sad an sorry affair. But, to end this blog with some heart, the wonderful campaigners with the Wilderness Society in Australia staged an oil spill protest on Friday 30th October. Volunteers gathered in a colorful action to protest against the oil spill and campaign for greater protection of our the marine life in this region (which we Australians call The Kimberly). Thank you TWS!