Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
November 15, 2007
4. Water Quality -
Spill puts hundreds of thousands of migrating birds at risk -
San Francisco Chronicle
Sessions offer oil cleanup volunteers the scoop about goop -
San Francisco Chronicle
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Spill puts hundreds of thousands of migrating birds at risk
San Francisco Chronicle – 11/15/07
By Jane Kay, staff writer
As cleanup crews struggle to pick up the oil that ebbs and flows in San Francisco Bay, wildlife experts worry about the 1.6 million shorebirds and waterfowl that come here every winter like clockwork for the good food and the mild climate.
Over the past week, since the Cosco Busan container ship hit the
Nearly 1,500 birds have been picked up dead or alive, including rare seabirds and coastal dwellers, tiny marbled murrelets and snowy plovers.
Yet thousands more birds and ducks have been splashed with globs of oil and rainbow sheen but remain in the wild where they will probably die, experts say. Birds that fly on farther south for the winter, yet stop on the popular Pacific Flyway to rest and eat, have moved on, carrying the contamination on their feathers.
"The oiled birds are everywhere," said Rebecca Dmytryk, an
"Some of these birds have had oil on them for a week, and they're dying," she said.
The oil spill couldn't have happened at a worse time for the 360,000 shorebirds that come to the bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for the winter, to feed in the mudflats, in the lower tides and, at high tide, in the salt ponds.
The 700,000 waterfowl, which include ducks, grebes and loons, like the open ocean and deep bay where they can spend most of their time in the water, diving or dabbling.
Additionally, about 300,000 seabirds and Western gulls will be breeding at the Farallon
"
"The estuary size, the diversity of the habitat, the flow of fresh water and the mild climate all come together to support large numbers of birds," he said.
The birds showing up on the shorelines need to be rescued, but only people with training should attempt it, experts say.
"If inexperienced people try to capture a bird that still has a lot of energy left in it, they may chase it back into the water and we could lose that bird for good," said Dmytryk of the International Bird Rescue center.
A lesson learned from the Cosco Busan spill is that the number of trained personnel falls short of what's needed to save birds.
In comments before The Chronicle editorial board Monday, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Craig Bone acknowledged that the Bay Area lacks sufficient numbers of people trained to help in the capture of wildlife and other tasks related to cleaning up the environment. The state is responsible for the task.
The problem will be part of the review as the Coast Guard later assesses how the response plan for future incidents can be improved, Bone said.
Birds aren't the only spill victims. Sea lions and harbor seals have also been exposed to the bunker fuel oil, floating and coating stretches of the bay and coast.
On Sunday, 37 of the 244 sea lions counted at Pier 39 in
Their resting spots have been oiled at Point Bonita under the
The oiled sea lions and harbor seals aren't being picked up because hunting them down and capturing them is a risky ordeal in itself, said Sarah Allen, wildlife biologist at the Point Reyes National Seashore. Only one northern fur seal spotted with oil has been brought into the
Kate Bishop, a Russian Hill resident, reported her experience on Sunday:
"Tonight is the first time since they came that the sea lions at Pier 39 have been totally silent. A few nights ago they were barking like mad as usual. Today and tonight, nothing."
The impact on fish probably won't show up, yet, scientists say, and may be manifest in chronic effects from the carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in dissolved bunker fuel oil, scientists say.
As a precaution on Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger closed fishing temporarily for commercial and sport anglers.
Hundreds of miles of shoreline has been stained: At Rodeo, Muir, Stinson and Agate beaches, in
On the coast, thick oil globules have hit as far south as Montara in
Toxic bunker fuel oil - the dregs left from refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel - can kill birds outright and sicken others, depending on how much oil they consume. If the oil gets on their feathers, they can't keep warm.
If the bunker fuel oil gets in the wetlands, it is likely to stay in the environment for 10 to 20 years, said Richard Ambrose, professor and director of the environmental science and engineering program at UCLA's
"How big an impact depends on how much oil," Ambrose said.
More than half of the oiled birds have been ducks - the scoters and the scaups - which dive down to fish in clean water and come up drenched in oil.
Other affected species are common murres, rhinoceros auklets, Western gulls, Western grebes and
On Tuesday, the National Park Service researchers counted two dozen snowy plovers at
Thousands of red-throated and Pacific loons stop here on the migration south, said Alan Hopkins, past president of Golden Gate Audubon Society who is worried about the unrecorded deaths.
"Like the scoters, some will stop briefly, get in the oil and continue south,"
"Their deaths will never be detected as part of the oil spill."
The marbled murrelets, already in decline because of loss of old-growth forest habitat, are so small that they could disappear in the surf zone,
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/15/MNF1TCHHP.DTL
| Sessions offer oil cleanup volunteers the scoop about goop San Francisco Chronicle – 11/15/07 By Carolyn Jones, Steve Rubensstein, staff writers It was standing-room only on both sides of the bay for hundreds of oil spill volunteers clamoring to learn the secrets of picking up goop. Hundreds more would-be volunteers were turned away on Wednesday from the training classes in Those lucky volunteers who made it inside found out there's more to cleaning up bunker fuel than heading to the beach with a kitty-litter scoop and a trash bag. "When you go out to the beach and put on this silly suit, you're going to feel awkward," said Harry Allen, a trainer from the Environmental Protection Agency, to the packed hall in Feeling awkward is OK, Allen said. What's not OK is taking off the silly suit. He followed that up with an organic chemistry lecture, complete with video diagrams of hydrocarbon molecules and discussions of the specific gravities of various petroleum components. The volunteers, grateful to be in on the action at long last, took it all in with untired eyes. Over the past week, countless volunteers have been turned away from Bay Area beaches and threatened with arrest for trying to pitch in. On Sunday, hundreds of volunteers at other classes were told that removing toxic chemicals from beaches is too dangerous for amateurs, then sent home. But on Wednesday, that was all changed and the volunteers were welcomed into the fight and issued official state Disaster Service Work ID cards - "good for this oil spill only," according to the rules. The "I want to do this beach cleanup legally," said Kim Wynigear of Allen told the volunteers to stop working if they feel sick. "We're not going to be offering you respirators. If you want to bring your own, that's OK." In Some volunteers were frustrated that they had to undergo training - covering such topics as the molecular structure of benzene and the flammability of different vapors - when all they want to do is help birds. They also questioned why the training is only applicable to this particular spill, and why it has taken a week for the classes to be offered. Lisa Houston, an opera singer from Kensington, said she and some friends visited the beach at the foot of "When I buy toxic furniture cleaner, I just read the warning label, do what it says and I'm good to go," she said at the training. "We need 10 minutes of training to do this, not half a day." The volunteers trained Wednesday were expecting to be deployed this week to help hazardous materials crews clean up tar at The Alameda County Department of Environmental Health has warned the public not to touch, breathe or ingest the oil because it can cause headaches, nausea and respiratory problems. # http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/15/MNH0TCI22.DTL |
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