Thousands more birds are expected to be washed up on Britain’s shores this week dead or dying as pressure mounts to find the ship that dumped the illegal oil in the sea.
Already more than 250 stricken birds, mostly guillemots, have been rescued from beaches along a 200 mile stretch of the south coast, from West Sussex to Cornwall.
The birds are covered in a heavy “glue-like” substance, believed to be some kind of oil dumped from a ship, that makes it impossible for them to swim and feed.
Conservationists fear this could just be the start of the “environmental disaster”.
Emma Rance, marine conservation officer for the Dorset Wildlife Trust, said the direction of the wind had limited the numbers of birds being washed ashore – so far.
But she said the wind will change direction this week, moving to come from the south, and so could bring ashore the bodies of birds that have died from the cold and exhaustion.The Royal Society for the Protection of Animals are trying to rescue oiled birds at West Hatch centre near Taunton, Somerset, but the substance is proving “impossible” to clean off with soap and water.
Experts say that if those responsible for the spill are identified they could be prosecuted.
Tony Whitehead, from the RSPB, said investigations were continuing to establish what it was and where it came from.
"It's a refined mineral oil, which is a colourless and odourless substance, and it's related to petroleum jelly," he said.
"We don't know where it came from and we need to do a lot more testing on this substance to try and track it back to its source. "There are people speculating it could be from a ship, that's possible but we just don't know yet. "We need to look at what happened and if appropriate take legal action and also, frankly, shame the people." Scientists from the Environment Agency identified the mystery substance as a refined mineral oil, but not from an animal or vegetable-based oil and ruled out palm oil. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is looking at satellite images and has sent up a pollution surveillance aircraft to scour the Channel from Dover to the Scilly Isles. A cargo ship flushing out its tanks at sea rather than paying to do so in port could be responsible for the pollution that lies just beneath the surface of the ocean. Chris Packham, the naturalist and TV presenter, expressed their disappointment at the prospect of the guilty crew escaping prosecution. "Every effort needs to be made to find out who did it,” he said. "This is an enormous eco-crime and unless you find and punish the perpetrators then what is the discouragement for them not to do it again? "I understand that this has happened in the busiest shipping channel in the world and the ship could be miles away by now. "The birds are the best indicator as to when this spill occurred. The fact that birds that have been mixed up in it and have come ashore alive suggests it was relatively recently. "It is very disappointing that whoever did this may well get away with it." Dr Simon Boxall, an oceanographer at Southampton University, said it is likely to be an illegal dump. "An accident such as a leaky gearbox or a broken pipe is the most likely cause of a mineral oil spill, but it is unusual that it would cause this much havoc. "So that makes one think it could be an illegal dump of cargo oil – oil that is being transported rather than used in the working of the ship."
fuente, telegraph
"We don't know where it came from and we need to do a lot more testing on this substance to try and track it back to its source. "There are people speculating it could be from a ship, that's possible but we just don't know yet. "We need to look at what happened and if appropriate take legal action and also, frankly, shame the people." Scientists from the Environment Agency identified the mystery substance as a refined mineral oil, but not from an animal or vegetable-based oil and ruled out palm oil. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is looking at satellite images and has sent up a pollution surveillance aircraft to scour the Channel from Dover to the Scilly Isles. A cargo ship flushing out its tanks at sea rather than paying to do so in port could be responsible for the pollution that lies just beneath the surface of the ocean. Chris Packham, the naturalist and TV presenter, expressed their disappointment at the prospect of the guilty crew escaping prosecution. "Every effort needs to be made to find out who did it,” he said. "This is an enormous eco-crime and unless you find and punish the perpetrators then what is the discouragement for them not to do it again? "I understand that this has happened in the busiest shipping channel in the world and the ship could be miles away by now. "The birds are the best indicator as to when this spill occurred. The fact that birds that have been mixed up in it and have come ashore alive suggests it was relatively recently. "It is very disappointing that whoever did this may well get away with it." Dr Simon Boxall, an oceanographer at Southampton University, said it is likely to be an illegal dump. "An accident such as a leaky gearbox or a broken pipe is the most likely cause of a mineral oil spill, but it is unusual that it would cause this much havoc. "So that makes one think it could be an illegal dump of cargo oil – oil that is being transported rather than used in the working of the ship."
fuente, telegraph
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