Qld: Oil washes up on pristine turtle nesting ground

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2010
Qld: Oil washes up on pristine turtle nesting ground

BRISBANE, April 14 AAP - Crews will arrive on Wednesday to clean up oil which has washed
up on an important seabird and turtle nesting island.

The island is 10 nautical miles (about 18km) south of where a Chinese-registered coal
carrier ran aground in the Great Barrier Reef on April 3.

Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) says small amounts of oil ranging in size from a 50
cent coin to a shovel load has spread about one kilometre along a beach at North West
Island.

The island is an important nesting ground for seabirds and turtles and a clean-up team
is expected to arrive at 7am (AEST) on Wednesday.

The oil has washed up too soon to be linked to the vessel's refloating on Monday night
and most likely came from an earlier spill, an MSQ spokesman told AAP.

The ship has leaked three to four tonnes of heavy fuel oil onto the reef but there
have been no signs suggesting more oil has leaked during the salvaging process.

Salvage operators removed the ship's 970-tonne load of fuel oil before they refloated it.

A marine scientist says it could take more than 20 years for the portion of the Great
Barrier Reef "pulverised" by the grounding of the Shen Neng 1, to recover.

AAP peb/tr

KEYWORD: CARRIER AM UPDATE

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