26 February 04

On Alert

In 1953 a cargo ship named the SS Jacob Luckenbach sank off the entrance to the San Francisco Bay. Mystery oil spills in the 1990s were eventually traced to the Luckenbach and a costly removal of some 100,000 gallons of fuel oil was undertaken in 2002. There’s plenty left, though, and every time there’s a big storm—like the one we had yesterday—some of this fuel oil escapes and wreaks havoc on wildlife in the general area.

My new colleagues at the Wildlife Health Center are standing by for notification of the first oiled wildlife, most likely to be Common Murres. They will then coordinate a vast network of volunteers who will most likely give up their weekend and converge on San Mateo to start cleaning and rehabilitating these hypothermic birds.

There were 40-foot swells out there yesterday. The likelihood of the Luckenbach sitting peacefully at the bottom ignoring the currents seems small. Let’s hope we’re wrong.

Posted by at 07:35 PM in Nature and Place | Link |
  1. Pica, we live in dread of an oil tanker running aground on our reefs. I was chatting to a retired wharfie only the other week who was telling me how untrained the ships’ crews are these days – cheap labour – it will be only a matter of time before we have a catastrophe on our hands if standards do not improve. What a wonderful place the Wildlife Health Centre looks – I wonder if my sister (vet in tick-borne disease research) has met some of the people at the School.

    — Jenny    27. February 2004, 11:19    Link
  2. Crumbs! What we do to our environment. It does my head in every time there’s a big oil spill around the (dis-)UK – and there is at least one in the Channel or off the coast of Wales of Scotland every year. And who foots to cleaning up bill? (for those creatures who survive!) – the voluntary groups and charities. Glad you are working with people with the right priorities!

    — Coup de Vent    27. February 2004, 20:11    Link
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