Brisbane Oil Spill ~

[mrm777]

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Workers rescued turtle eggs Thursday and started to clean up oil that washed up on Australian beaches from a cargo ship that leaked fuel when it was damaged by falling containers of fertilizer in stormy seas.
A day earlier, the Pacific Adventurer lost 31 containers carrying 694 U.S. tons (620 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be used to make explosives. The falling containers damaged fuel stores in the hull, spilling up to 34 U.S. tons (30 metric tons) of oil into the Pacific Ocean.
The spill created a slick reported to span six miles (10 kilometers) in waters off Brisbane, on Australia's eastern coast.......
The Associated Press: Workers clean spilled oil from Australian beaches

[clararhb]

WOW..I had read a little bit about this but didn't know that it had gotten that big nor the sources.

[mrm777]

Update -

However, Mr Green said the combined effect of the spilled oil and the disappearance of 31 containers of ammonium nitrate - a potentially toxic chemical used in fertiliser manufacture - would mean seafood caught locally may need to be tested for many years to come.
He has called on the government to deploy boats equipped with sonar equipment to search for the missing containers, which were lost from the deck of the Hong Kong-based Pacific Adventurer in cyclonic winds last Wednesday.
"We'd be looking for long-term monitoring of the area because independent scientists have informed us at the weekend that this could be a decade of damage done here - that's how critical it is to get this fertiliser located and out of the water.
"It's not sealed in the containers, it would be leaking now so it's going to have an impact. I'm very disappointed that the Environment Protection Agency aren't out there doing this and letting people know the truth about what they've allowed to happen."
A joint-agency working group set up to address the disaster and the impact on the fishing industry will meet in Brisbane later today, led by the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.
Mr Green said letting the public know that it was safe to eat local catch was going to be a challenge.
"We will be looking for an advertising campaign to back up the industry in assuring people that there's no risk associated with this great product.
"We can guarantee the seafood will be there for Easter but the big thing is arranging this testing and making certain everything is right."
Chermside retailer Charles Rantai, of Con's Seafood Market, said his customers had already enquired about the safety of his produce and whether "it has chemicals on it".
But he said the cost of buying prawns caught further north, in Cairns, was only about 20 cents more than usual.
"We will pass that on, of course, but it it isn't very much," he said.
"I don't think it will make much of a difference.We'll probably be selling them for between $28 and $29 a kilo."
Darren Henke, of Gambaro's Seafood Market at South Brisbane - which sells "several hundred kilos" of king prawns every Easter - said it was difficult to tell how much the price would be affected.
"It probably will push the price up, but we won't really know until they start to catch them," Mr Henke said.
"We're coming into prawn season now, so the price usually drops a bit anyway because there are lots of them around.
"As long as they're tested and they're safe, we'll sell them."
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Seafood sales gutted by oil spill - Queensland - BrisbaneTimes

[OTGav]

Morton Island re-opened this week to camping.

Hopefully that means it's pretty much sorted - diving is still good off Morton & Straddie, not heard anyone say they can see any effect on the reefs out there.

The rocky areas on North Morton are flogged - not that many people ever go there - think some spearos went there though.