As if NZ hadn't had enough disasters this past year

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

and this time in my very own backyard!

A week ago tonight the container ship Rena ran aground on Astrolabe Reef, a very small but very important well documented and mapped reef 12kms(approx 7 miles) offshore from our harbour entrance and about 7kms offshore from one of the most pristine white sand beaches in NZ, a beach that stretches for over 100km. It's also within 4kms of one of our beautiful offshore islands and about 20kms from a huge marine reserve. The Bay of Plenty is not called that for nothing, sealife abounds; whales, dolphins, seals, penguins, rare sea birds and not so rare, an abundance of shellfish and fin fish, our bay is also a world renowned big game fishing area, the ocean is our livelihood as a city and our lifeblood as an province. We spend our year on, in and around the water. Many. many businesses rely on the ocean, the marinas are full of charter boats. Tomorrow marks the start of our biggest ever cruise ship season with over 100 ships due before the end of summer.

So it was with great distress and sadness that we heard today from our Enviromental Minister that this will be “New Zealand’s most significant maritime environmental disaster” Up until last night around 20 tonnes of oil had leaked into the ocean. Last night a huge depression moved slowly over the area and a major storm raged overnight and through today and is set to last until Thursday(it's Tues night here) All salvage efforts have been abandoned due to the dangerous conditions, there is a 4-5 metre(13-15 foot) swell running and wind and rain are lashing the region. A further 300 tonnes of oil as now poured into the ocean. Highly toxic thick black gunky oil and dead birdlife have now started washing ashore and this is only the oil from the first 20 tonnes (the next lot is grey and a different type) Our beautiful beach is already changing colour as the black tide crashes onto shore. It really is unbelievable that this is happening, people are walking around like stunned mullets. There are 1700 tonnes of oil still on the ship. At the moment there is no watch on the ship as it is fogged in so no tracking can be done of what is happening to or on the ship. It was listing by 12 degrees port but has moved overnight and swung, 2/3rds of the ship is hanging free and the fear is that it will break it's back. It's now listing 15 degrees starboard.

An enquiry will find out why this 236metre, multi thousand tonne ship carrying 2200 containers(which some incidentally are carrying highly toxic chemicals) managed to wedge itself on top of one of the tiniest pin-prick points of a reef in the middle of a vast ocean. Specualtion is that the captain had been drinking and/or that they were taking a short cut to the harbour entrance. The Astrolabe Reef is one of the busiest fishing spots in the Bay of Plenty, it is also well used diving reef with a huge natural cavern underneath. It's not known if this has collapsed under the weight of the ship.

And what is really frustrating is that for the first 5 days the sea was flat calm. Unfortunately equipment to offload containers and oil from the ship was unavailable and then only an oil barge arrived on the 5th day, 30 tonnes of oil is all that has been drained. Being so far from international help(we don't have a Russian helicopter needed to lift the containers) hasn't helped along with insurance companies deciding who is going to pay I suspect.

I also suspect the the word "Rena" will be one that is mentioned with disgust and distaste for many years to come.

Maritime New Zealand incident page

[Bruce A]

They should put flogging back into maritime law Shellie - we had a similar disaster a while back off Stradbroke Island here in S.E. Qld. It's beyond me how this happens. Luckilly, those containers didn't drop into the sea with the ship listing. Yet!!!

[macroMe]

Oh no - that is a tragedy. Takes so many years to begin to repair this kind of damage.

[gturner]

Just dreadful.
The usual case when it has happened in SA is that the owners abandon the ship, the country of convenience wants no part and the cost to locals is MASSIVE.

Here is hoping for the best.

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

And the storm rages on.......
I wonder what the morning will bring.

This is our "Main Beach" at Mount Maunganui, one of NZ most iconic and well known beaches-

[gturner]

How long did you have to stake out that joint to get a picture of sunshine? That is worthy of a NatGeo spread :-)

[Woody]

We received an emergency call last week to send one of our ocean going tugs over there.

But our Botany Salvor is coming back to Sydney for a refit after two years in Dampier WA.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1131793...CMj00O_EpraZIw

So sorry, we would loved to have helped and this is right up our alley, but on this occasion we had to decline.

You know my brother was involved with some research ten years after the Exxon Valdez and its amazing how nature heals itself. There is absolutely no sign of nay disaster and the naturally occurring bacteria have just completely cleaned up the coast.

So it may be a nuisance now, it it will not take long to recover and remain one of the most picturesque parts of NZ and the World.

Cheers,

John W

[RLucas]

This sucks! I read about this yesterday, and I hope you guys can get it sorted quickly.

[Jim Bryant]

Sad............

[mosgood]

What a beautiful area of the world. It's tragic that this event is costing sea creatures their lives...not to mention what it will do to such a pristine coastline. I hope they can get things straightened out before more damage is done.