Sunshine Coast, Moreton Island hit by oil slick from ship

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,27574,25175012-3102,00.html


Oil washes up on Marcoola Beach at on Sunshine Coast
after the MC Pacific Adventurer lost part of its cargo in
heavy seas whipped up by Cyclone Hamish.

CLEAN-up crews have descended upon Marcoola Beach on the Sunshine Coast to clean up after oil from a cyclone-battered container ship washed ashore overnight.

Surf Lifesaving duty officer David McLean said the thick black oil stretched 800 to 900m along the beach, and had also washed up at nearby Twin Waters and Wurtulla near Caloundra.

``It was all over the beach, it stuck to my thongs, and it's blown up on to the vegetation,'' Mr McLean said.

He said some young local girls had cleaned oil from turtle eggs which were then removed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

``Three of them hadn't hatched so they're being relocated.''

Up to 30 tonnes of heavy fuel oil leaked into the sea when the containers came loose and tumbled overboard piercing the hull of the MV Pacific Adventurer.

The oil spill covers 30km of Moreton Island beaches and there are also small patches of oil on the beaches at Wurtulla, Mudjimba and Marcoola on the Sunshine Coast.

This morning 100 turtle eggs, some of which had hatched, were found on the Sunshine Coast covered in a thin film of oil.

Conservationists assessed the eggs and hatchlings, and relocated them after determining they would be largely unaffected by the spill.

About 50 people moved to the island are using rakes and shovels to collect and bag contaminated sand.

The state of one of Queensland’s best beaches is under threat as fears rise that more than 30 tonnes of oil has been spilled from storm-damaged cargo ship the Pacific Adventurer.

Transport Minister John Mickel said all efforts were being made to clean up the spill, much of which had been broken up by heavy seas.

But nothing could be done at sea to contain any material because of heavy conditions whipped up by Cyclone Hamish, and there was still no sign of the 31 shipping containers also lost overboard.

The resulting oil slick stretched about 5.5km off Cape Moreton yesterday and by early evening had begun to wash into shore.

Emergency oil spill kits have been sent to the island but locals are hopeful the continuing rough conditions would break the oil up.

The containers of ammonium nitrate are believed to have sunk to the ocean floor.

Experts say the chemical used in fertilisers and explosives is not a serious environmental threat because of the volume of water it is in.

Professor David Parry from the Australian Institute of Marine Science said even if the containers spilt their contents it would ``dissolve in the sea water''.