Ship gives Great Barrier Reef 3km scar
Source: Agencies |
April 14, 2010, Wednesday
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A CHINESE coal carrier that ran aground and leaked oil on Australia's Great Barrier Reef cut a scar the length of 10 city blocks into the shoal and may have smeared paint that will prevent marine life from growing back, the reef's chief scientist said yesterday.
Even if severe toxic contamination is not found at the site, initial assessments by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority indicate it could take 20 years for the world's largest coral reef to recover, said scientist David Wachenfeld.
"There is more damage to this reef than I have ever seen in any previous Great Barrier Reef groundings," Wachenfeld told reporters yesterday. The Shen Neng 1 ground into large parts of the shoal, leaving a scar 3 kilometers long and up to 250 meters wide.
The 230-meter vessel veered into protected waters and slammed into a shoal on April 3. Coral shredded part of its hull, causing a leak of about 3 tons of fuel oil, which was later dispersed by chemical sprays and is believed to have caused little or no damage to the reef. Small amounts of oil, however, have begun washing up on beaches near where the ship ran aground, according to Maritime Safety Queensland.
Tides and currents pushed it along the reef, crushing and smearing potentially toxic paint onto coral and plants, Wachenfeld said. In some areas, "all marine life has been completely flattened and the structure of the shoal has been pulverized by the weight of the vessel," he said.
Perhaps most concerning to the scientists is the chemical makeup of the paint used on the ship's hull, which divers have found spread across the vast majority of the impacted region.
If it contains heavy metals, Wachenfeld said, it would kill the marine life currently on the shoal, and prevent new life from colonizing there.
Even if severe toxic contamination is not found at the site, initial assessments by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority indicate it could take 20 years for the world's largest coral reef to recover, said scientist David Wachenfeld.
"There is more damage to this reef than I have ever seen in any previous Great Barrier Reef groundings," Wachenfeld told reporters yesterday. The Shen Neng 1 ground into large parts of the shoal, leaving a scar 3 kilometers long and up to 250 meters wide.
The 230-meter vessel veered into protected waters and slammed into a shoal on April 3. Coral shredded part of its hull, causing a leak of about 3 tons of fuel oil, which was later dispersed by chemical sprays and is believed to have caused little or no damage to the reef. Small amounts of oil, however, have begun washing up on beaches near where the ship ran aground, according to Maritime Safety Queensland.
Tides and currents pushed it along the reef, crushing and smearing potentially toxic paint onto coral and plants, Wachenfeld said. In some areas, "all marine life has been completely flattened and the structure of the shoal has been pulverized by the weight of the vessel," he said.
Perhaps most concerning to the scientists is the chemical makeup of the paint used on the ship's hull, which divers have found spread across the vast majority of the impacted region.
If it contains heavy metals, Wachenfeld said, it would kill the marine life currently on the shoal, and prevent new life from colonizing there.
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