Dutch help clean up NZ oil spill

RNW, 10October 2011

A containership which ran onto a reef off the coast of New Zealand is no longer leakingoil. Cor Radings, spokesman for the partly Dutch-based company Svitzer Salvagesays they will start on Tuesday cleaning up the oil spilled in the Bay ofPlenty, an important habitat for dolphins, whales, penguins and seals.

“On Sundaywe began pumping the fuel to a tanker moored nearby, until the weatherconditions forced a temporary halt. We’re also preparing to remove thecontainers, although the angle of the ship will make it difficult. ”

SvitzerSalvage is leading an operation involving 250 specialists from Australia, GreatBritain, Singapore and the Netherlands, with 300 New Zealand servicemenstanding by.

It’s notclear how the Rena, A Greek ship sailing under a Liberian flag, ran aground infine weather on a reef clearly marked on all charts. It can’t be moved untilthe containers have been removed and even then it could still break up and leakmore oil.

So far theenvironmental damage has not been as bad as was feared, with only a fewseabirds and penguins covered in oil.

The NewZealand authorities say they will investigate all aspects of the case,including possible alcohol use by the crew.

In thisphoto provided by Maritime New Zealand, shipping containers float 

Wednesday, inthe water around the cargo ship Rena that has been foundering

 since it ranaground Oct. 5 on the Astrolabe Reef, about 14 miles (22 kilometers) 

fromTauranga Harbour, New Zealand. The condition of the stricken cargo ship

 stuckthat is leaking oil worsened Wednesday, with about 70 containers falling 

overboard and the vessel moving onto a steeper lean.

(AP/Maritime NewZealand, Blair Harkness)

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Ship grounded on New Zealand reef watched for signs of oil spill

English.news.cn   2011-10-05

The236-meter cargo ship Rena struck the Astrolabe Reef, about 12
 nautical milesoff the coast near Tauranga Harbour, at around 2. 20 a.m.
Wednesday and waslisting, said a statement from Maritime New Zealand (MNZ).
(Xinhua/ReutersPhoto)

WELLINGTON,Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's shipping authorities have cordoned off aLiberian-flagged container ship that has grounded on a reef off the east of theNorth Island as they attempt to assess whether it poses an environmental risk.

The236-meter cargo ship Rena struck the Astrolabe Reef, about 12 nautical milesoff the coast near Tauranga Harbour, at around 2. 20 a.m. Wednesday and waslisting, said a statement from Maritime New Zealand (MNZ).

None of the25 crew aboard the 47,000-tonne vessel were reported injured, it said.

A lightsheen of oil was visible around the ship, but it was thought to be hydraulicoil from the engine and was not considered "a significant environmentalrisk at this point," it said.

MNZ hadactivated its Maritime Incident Response Team (MIRT) of experts to providetechnical advice and oversight.

MNZ's25-strong National Response Team of oil spill specialists was setting up acommand center in Tauranga, and would lead the response in the event of a significantspill from the ship.

MIRTincident controller Renny van der Velde said the plans being put in place bythe oil spill response team would form a safety net in the event of any spilledoil.

"Whilethe aim is to remove the vessel with no oil spilled, it is important to havecontingency plans in place in case something goes wrong."

The vesselowner -- reported to be the Israel-based Ofer Brothers Group, one of theworld's largest private shipping firms - - was responsible for coordinating asalvage plan.

MNZ wasalso working with wildlife experts from Massey University and the Department ofConservation, which advised there were no immediate concerns for marine life,to prepare for any possible spill.

An MNZmaritime safety inspector aboard the vessel had assessed the damage and advisedthat the ship had several breaches to the hull, affecting cargo holds on theport side.

The shipwas on a 10-degree list, but was stable on the reef, and fuel in tanks on theport side was being transferred to the starboard side as a precautionarymeasure, said the MNZ statement.

Pumps wereworking remove water from the cargo holds.

The ship'scaptain was in discussion with the ship's owner and salvage experts to assesshow best to move the ship off the reef, but a decision was expected to take"some time."

The localBay of Plenty Regional Council staff has ordered a 1- kilometer exclusion zonearound the vessel, which was fully laden.

Taurangaharbour master Carl Magazinovic he had received reports of "sightseeingvessels" near the grounded ship, potentially causing safety issues anddisrupting response efforts.

"Thissituation is expected to continue for some time so we will be monitoringmovement of vessels around the area, and anyone found breaching the exclusionzone could face a fine of up to 20, 000 NZ dollars (15,220 U.S. dollars),"said Magazinovic.

MichaelHodgins of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, which chartered the 21-year-oldRena, told Radio New Zealand it was carrying timber, milk powder, meat andfish.

He said thecrew would have been familiar with the route it was taking, which started inSingapore and included ports in Australia as well as New Zealand before headingback to Sydney, a journey usually taking about six weeks.

The236-meter cargo ship Rena struck the Astrolabe Reef, about 12 nautical

 milesoff the coast near Tauranga Harbour, at around 2. 20 a.m. Wednesday

 and waslisting, said a statement from Maritime New Zealand (MNZ).

(Xinhua/ReutersPhoto)

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Japan launches Pacific 'research' whaling

Herald Sun, From correspondents in Tokyo From: AFP June 11, 2011

Sea Shepherd's newest speedboat was instrumental in cutting short Japan's
whale "research" in January. Picture: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society / Eye
In The Sky Magazine. Supplied

JAPAN sent a whaling fleet to the northwest Pacific for what it called a research hunt today, four months after cutting short a similar mission in the Antarctic due to obstruction by activists.

The three-vessel fleet, led by the Nisshin Maru, plans to catch 260 whales including 100 minkes until late August to study their stomach contents, DNA and other information, according to the Institute of Cetacean Research.

The government-affiliated institute has organised such operations since 1987, citing a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling which allows hunts for scientific research.

Anti-whaling nations and environmentalist groups condemn the activity as a cover for commercial whaling but Japan said it is necessary to substantiate its claim that there is a robust whale population in the world.

The institute said the mission would be its 18th scientific expedition to the northwest Pacific.

On February 18, Japan halted a research hunt in the Antarctic Ocean for the 2010-2011 season, which had been due to run from December until March, because of obstruction by militant environmentalist group Sea Shepherd.

The US-based Sea Shepherd, which says its tactics are non-violent but aggressive, hurled paint and stink bombs at whaling ships, snared their propellers with rope, and moved its own boats between the harpoon ships and their prey.

The four-ship fleet killed 172 whales in that season, only about a fifth of its target, the fisheries agency said at the time.

Australia - which last year launched legal action against Japan's whaling program at the International Court of Justice - and New Zealand said they hoped Japan had given up whaling for good.

The institute told Japanese media that there has been no instance of obstructive activities in the northwest Pacific so far but that "we cannot automatically consider the area safe".

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Activists, Japan whalers clash in Southern Ocean

RNW, 1 January 2011

Militant anti-whalers Saturday said they had clashed with Japanese harpoonists in the Southern Ocean, chasing them through ice packs, throwing stink bombs at them and being hit with water cannon.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's vessels have been seeking to disrupt the Japanese whalers on their annual hunt in Antarctic waters since mid-December but had not been able to sight the Japanese fleet until Friday.

The society's president Paul Watson said that now they had made contact with the whalers, they would attempt to prevent any of the giant sea creatures from being slaughtered.

"It's got its water cannons turned onto us right now so we're manoeuvring through ice and trying to outmanoeuvre them so it's a little dicey," Watson told ABC Radio.

Locky MacLean, the captain of the Sea Shepherd's 'Gojira' vessel, said the society's three boats had been "dancing dangerously through the ice packs locked in confrontation with the three harpoon ships".

"It was both deadly and beautiful," he said in a statement on the society's website. "Deadly because of the ice and the hostility of the whalers and beautiful because of the ice, and the fact that these three killer ships are not killing whales while clashing with us."

The activists said the clashes involved several high speed chases and near collisions among jagged ice floes, and alleged that the whalers turned water cannons and hoses on their crew.

"Sea Shepherd responded with some rather unpleasant foul-smelling substances," they said in a statement, adding that there were no injuries.

A Sea Shepherd spokesman was unable to confirm what was thrown, but in previous years the activists have tossed rancid butter, or butyric acid, stink bombs at the whalers to make their decks unusable for slaughtering whales.

The conservationists said now they had found the Japanese fleet, 1,700 nautical miles southeast of New Zealand, they would continue to harass them to prevent them from killing whales during the southern hemisphere summer.

"Our objective is to save the maximum number of whales and to maximise the financial losses of the whalers at the same time," Watson said in the statement.

Australia has taken legal action against Japan to prevent it from hunting whales by exploiting a loophole in a 1986 global moratorium which allows whaling for research purposes.

The whale graveyard: Around 80 are stranded in mass beaching

Daily Mail, By DAILY MAIL REPORTER, 23rd September 2010

Nearly 60 pilot whales - including a calf - died when a pod of 80 became stranded on a remote beach in northern New Zealand, despite a desperate rescue attempt to save them.

Only 24 animals survived a stormy first night ashore following the second mass beaching this month, officials said.

Yesterday rescuers struggled to move survivors above the tide-line. They spent the night at Spirits Bay trying to keep the whales cool and damp as large waves and strong winds lashed the beach.

Beached: Dozens of pilot whales died after they were stranded
on a remote beach in northern New Zealand

Stranded: Only 24 creatures survived a stormy first night ashore
after the second mass beaching this month, officials said

'As of this morning, there have been 24 live animals moved out of the tide up onto the beach out of harms' way,' Department of Conservation spokeswoman Caroline Smith said.

'The weather is terrible up there. We have 20 knot winds and 1.5 to 2m (5ft - 7ft) swells, so it is not possible to refloat them at Spirits Bay.'

Officials planned to use big nets to lift the creatures - spread out over a three-mile stretch - onto the back of trucks and move them to more sheltered Rarawa Beach, about an hour south, where they will be refloated.

Teacher Te Aroha Wihapi took a group of students to help cover the whales with wet sheets.

'It was quite traumatic for some of the younger ones, she said. 'Two of them wanted to hug one of the whales because they saw its eye was weeping.'

Rescue efforts: crews attempt to save the pilot whales stranded on an
isolated beach at the top of New Zealand's North Island

Team effort: Volunteer Kate Malcolm from Tutukaka, New Zealand,
comforts a whale after it was moved to a nearby stream to rest

Department of Conservation area manager Jonathan Maxwell said at least 25 of the animals were already dead when officials first arrived at Spirits Bay.

Another 15 had died by nightfall and 50 more were spotted just offshore, some of which later beached.

Some of the weakest and most stressed animals had to be put down.

'Pilot whales have very strong social bonds and they try to help each other, so more keep getting stuck,' said Mark Simpson, of marine mammal protection charity Project Jonah.

In mid-August, 58 pilot whales became stranded at nearby Karikari Beach.

Survivors: Whales are transported from the beach to a nearby
stream as rescuers decide how to refloat them

Race against time: Yesterday rescuers struggled to move survivors
above the tide-line. They spent the night at Spirits Bay trying to
keep the 80 creatures cool and damp

Despite hundreds of helpers fighting to save them, only nine were eventually floated off the beach and returned to sea.

A pod of 101 pilot whales were beached in the same place in 2007.

New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of whale strandings, mainly during their migrations to and from Antarctic waters - one of these begins in September.

Since 1840, the Department of Conservation has recorded more than 5,000 strandings of whales and dolphins around the New Zealand coast.

Scientists have not been able to determine why whales become stranded.

NZ rescuers refloat 11 whales stranded on beach

The Jakarta Post, The Associated Press, Wellington | Sat, 08/21/2010 3:23 PM

(Photo: ANP)

Rescuers refloated 11 beached pilot whales Saturday after a mass stranding on an isolated northern New Zealand beach in which 47 of the mammals died. Some of the survivors still appeared to be in trouble.

All 11 survivors initially headed out to sea and were being monitored to ensure they did not return to the beach, said Carolyn Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation.

But within an hour, Smith said four of the survivors were in trouble.

"Of the eleven whales that were released, seven appear to be in good health, while four are experiencing difficulties," she said. "The department is concerned because they haven't left the immediate area and we are closely monitoring the situation."

The 58 pilot whales that beached Thursday night on remote, storm-tossed Karikari Beach were stranded for up to 12 hours before they were discovered - the reason so many died, Smith said.

On Friday, conservation department workers and trained volunteers from the Far North Whale Rescue group struggled to refloat the survivors by crane and body sling, hindered by heavy seas and wind, and then transport them half a mile (a kilometer) to Matai Bay, a sheltered location with calmer waters.

Officials had earlier said 73 whales beached but revised the number Saturday after a new count of the carcasses.

A pod of 101 pilot whales stranded on the same beach in 2007.

New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of whale strandings, mainly during their migration to and from Antarctic waters. Since 1840, the Department of Conservation has recorded more than 5,000 strandings of whales and dolphins around the New Zealand coast.

Rescuers attempt to refloat 15 stranded pilot whales at Karikari beach in the far north of New Zealand. (CNN)

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RI, Australia to discuss Maluku`s small island problems

Antara News, Thursday, May 27, 2010 19:11 WIB

Ambon, Maluku (ANTARA News) - Indonesian and Australian government representatives will meet in Ambon on August 4-6, 2010 to discuss problems affecting small islands in Maluku province, a local official said.

The head of Maluku province`s maritime affairs and fisheries office, Polly Kayhattu said here on Thursday the discussions would follow up decisions made at the World Ocean Conference (WOC) which was held as part of Sail Bunaken in Manado, North Sulawesi in July 2009.

He said the conference, themed "Save the Small Islands in Maluku for the Next Generation," was being intensively coordinated by the provincial maritime affairs and fisheries office with the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

"The international conference between Indonesia and Australia will focus on climate change and its impact on small islands in Maluku province," Kayhattu said.

According to him, matters related to investment in maritime and fisheries sector, illegal fishing, and fisheries management would also be discussed in the conference.

In addition, business meeting and interaction between Maluku and Darwin, Australia, would also be intensified.

"Maluku provincial government is consulting a plan to sign an cooperation agreement with Darwin through a coordination between Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry and Australian Embassy," Kayhattu said.

He added that the Indonesia-Australia conference on small islands in Maluku would coincide with a seafood exhibition involving Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea (PNG) from July 31-August 5, 2010.

"The three countries: Australia, New Zealand, and PNG will also participate in the upcoming international marine event of Sail Banda 2010," he said.

Kayhatto added that the exhibition, themed "Seafood for Quality of Life," would have a strategic value to promote Maluku which is to be declared by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the national fish barn here on August 3.

Tokelau declares whale sanctuary in South Pacific

BBC News,

The tiny New Zealand territory of Tokelau has declared a whaling sanctuary in its waters.

The new 290,000 sq km (112,000 sq mile) sanctuary brings the number in the South Pacific region to 11.

Tokelau's leader, Foua Toloa, said South Pacific countries had a "common responsibility" to protect its whales.

The sanctuary will have no immediate impact on whaling, but conservationists say it will strengthen the 1986 worldwide moratorium on whale hunting.

"Tokelau's decision to declare its exclusive economic zone a sanctuary for whales is based on our firm belief that we share a common responsibility in the Pacific for the protection of these species," Mr Toloa told a meeting of the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium in New Zealand.

"Whales don't recognise national boundaries and Tokelau would be remiss if we failed to support our Pacific island neighbours in the quest to help recovery of the whales in our region."

Scott Baker, a US member of the consortium, said the establishment of the sanctuary sent "a very strong messages to the global community and particularly to the whaling nations that they are in a minority".

Commercial whaling has been frozen by an international moratorium since 1986, but some 3,000 whales are killed every year by Norway, Japan and Iceland under loopholes in the legislation.

Japan kills several hundred whales each year for what is termed scientific research. Most of its hunting takes place in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary in the Antarctic.

Tokelau's territory is just 12 sq km (4.7 sq miles) and lies halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand.

It has a population of 1,500 and has been administered from Wellington since 1926.