http://www.bowenislandundercurrent.com/news/the-english-bay-oil-spill-unseen-damage-puts-ecosystem-at-risk-1.1824167
The English Bay oil spill: Unseen damage puts ecosystem at risk
MERIBETH DEEN / Bowen Island Undercurrent
April 15, 2015 09:08 AM
The English Bay oil spill: Unseen damage puts ecosystem at risk
On Thursday morning, when Bowen Belle water taxi pulled in to English
Bay to drop commuters off at Granville Island, English Bay Launch owner
and operator Mike Shannon says he didn’t see anything that indicated
that there might be a problem in the water.
“There were Coast Guard boats out, but they do drills fairly regularly,
so I figured that was what was happening,” says Shannon. “I couldn’t
actually see an oil slick at that point.”
For biologist Ramona DeGraaf, what the average person cannot see in
spill-affected waters and beaches is of primary concern. DeGraaf, who
was on Bowen conducting a shoreline survey in October, says that the
embryo of forage fish that spawn on the shores of English Bay will
suffocate and die if the gravelly beaches where they lay their eggs are
contaminated with oil.
“When I talk about forage fish, I am talking about a very specific group
of fish that run the marine food chain – herring, surf smelt, sand lance
– without these, the whole Straight of Georgia ecosystem is at risk. A
reduction in the biomass of these fish is going to have a major impact
on all predators, and that includes killer whales,” says DeGraaf. “And
English Bay is super-smelt land.”
She says that this time of year, there are surf smelt embryos in the
beaches, larvae feeding in the water, and adults coming into Burrard
Inlet and English Bay to spawn.
“Right now, and for however many years that oil is going to be caught in
the sediment of those beaches, any embryo deposited is going to
suffocate. Even micro-amounts of oil will cause the effect similar to
covering your head in a plastic bag full of fumes.”
She adds that the shoreline of the Lower Mainland used to be prime
spawning habitat for surf smelt and sand lance, but most of it has been
destroyed by sea walls and marinas.
“Discovering a beach that is intact and suitable for spawning is so
rare, it’s like finding dinosaur bones,” says DeGraaf. “But in my
shoreline surveys I’ve found good spawning beaches around Dundarave
Pier, John Lawson Creek, Totem Beach in Stanley Park and Rec Beach. I am
just so glad that at least that there are good spawning grounds up on
the Sunshine Coast and near Powell River that should be safe from damage.”
Starting this Friday, De Graaf is going to conduct an initial assessment
of the impacts of any hydrocarbons at the beach at Sandy Cove in West
Vancouver, which has been identified as an important smelt spawning
site. From there, she says she will decide where to go in order to
expand her study on the toxicity rates within smelt embryos on affected
beaches.
“I am trying to be hopeful that I’ll find the level of contamination in
the beach sediment to be low,” says DeGraaf. “But when you look at that
oil sheen on the surface, and if we get some high winds come in, that
will likely do the job of mixing it in with the sediment.”
Bowen Islander Karen Wristen, executive director of the Living Oceans
Society, shares DeGraaf’s concerns about the long-term and less visible
impacts of this oil spill.
“This weekend, I went down to Seymour Bay and Arbutus Cove because I
thought that if oil were to wash up anywhere on Bowen’s shoreline, it
would likely be there,” says Wristen. “I didn’t see any evidence of oil,
but as I watched the herons feeding, I thought about the impact a
contaminated population of fish is likely to have on our local heron
population.”
Wristen adds that recent research conducted for the Living Oceans
Society by Dr. Jeffrey Short, a chemist who worked for the US government
assessing damage to caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, shows that oil
is deadly to virtually all fish while they are in their larval forms.
“Certain compounds in bitumen or bunker oil can dissolve into water and
then be absorbed by the translucent embryos,” says Wristen. “When
exposed to sunlight, these compounds promote the oxidization of tissues
within the embryos – in effect, burning them. This effect was
demonstrated in herring embryos on the shorelines of San Francisco Bay
after the 2009 Cosco Busan oil spill.”
Wristen says that the wider impacts of the oil spill in English Bay may
be difficult to monitor, but doing so is crucial.
“If we don’t start doing it immediately, we won’t have any hope of
linking the cause and effect of this in the future,” she says.
The report Wristen sites when discussing fish embryos and oil was
written for submission to the Kinder Morgan pipeline hearings, and
focuses largely on oil spill response-preparedness.
“This event shows the risks, and that really, there is no intention on
the part of the Coast Guard to address them,” says Wristen. “They’re
saying that 80% of the spill has been picked up, when really, the
International Tanker Owners Pollution Fund, which regularly publishes
statistics, shows that only 15 percent of a spill is ever picked up.
Furthermore, even in the sailor who first reported this spill says that
he could see the oil sinking right away.”
She adds that the prospect of cleaning up oil from affected shorelines
is grim.
“On the coastline up in Prince William Sound where the Exxon Valdez
spilled, there is an estimated 80 thousand litres of oil remaining in
the cobble beaches. There is no method proven to be particularly
effective of getting oil off of rocks and out of fine sediment,” says
Wristen. “You’ve likely heard descriptions of the oil on the shores of
English Bay as being like bubblegum. It will take a long time for the
elements to break this down and for those beaches to recover.”
FINDING THE SPILL: AS TOLD TO KAREN WRISTEN BY SAILOR ROB O'DEA
4:10 p.m. We left False Creek and headed out for a sail. Our initial
course took us along the West End beaches out to Stanley Park.
4:45 p.m We were just off of 3rd beach when we noticed a strong smell
like asphalt. We saw a large slick on the water but could not tell if
it was oil or whether it was just an area with less wind, so we turned
the boat towards it.
5:05 p.m Just after 5 we reached the flat water and realized that it was
an oil slick about ½ km long and 250 m wide. The surface was covered
with a blue sheen and just beneath the surface there were globules of
oil by the thousands per sq. m. They were within the top few inches of
the water and I didn't notice them down any deeper. Some were the size
of a pea, many were the size of a fist. We turned around to get out of
the slick while I checked the web for the VPD Harbour Patrol phone
number. The website said to phone 911 which I did exactly at 5:05.
911 put me through to the VPD. I told them that we needed the VPD
Marine Unit and that there was an oil slick 1/2 km long and 250 meters
wide. They said that they would pass it along to the Marine Unit and
they tried to put me through to the Coast Guard with no success. They
took my cell # and the Coast Guard called me back three minutes later at
5:08 (note that the Coast Guard called from a 250 area code). I was
told that both the Coast Guard and the clean up crew were attending. I
told them that the slick was a ½ km long and that we were on the scene,
but there were no emergency boats or other authorities there. I was
told that they were en route.
The Coast Guard also told me that they had already received a report
from another boat about the spill. There was another sailboat out there
in the middle of the slick when we first noticed it. Maybe it was them,
but I haven't spoken to them. There were very few other boats as it was
a week day and still early in the boating season, but I have heard that
Vancouver Ocean Sports were out there in kayaks and have oil all over
their boats and paddles.
6:00 p.m The Port Authority showed up in a boat. For the next two hours
they hung around, generally motoring back and forth across the slick
while it appears that oil continued to come from the ship as the slick
grew.
7:30 p.m The sun was getting low so we started to head in. We When we
passed by the stern of the offending freighter there were larger stickly
globs of black goo a meter long and as thick as your arm. Oil was
everywhere at and below the surface. The crew of the ship were madly
trying to load 50 gallon drums from a small boat onto the ship while at
the same time they were dropping small pails over the side of the ship
and hauling up water. It was a keystone cops kind of scene and the Port
Metro boat passed by in close proximity but did not intervene. I didn’t
see them do anything else but motor around.
8:00 p.m. When I was heading into the dock there was still no Coast
Guard, no booms, and no other emergency response teams on site.
I did not witness any sinking oil, but we did not hang out in the slick
very long so we wouldn't have seen them anyway. Once we entered the
slick and confirmed that it was in fact an oil spill we got out of the
slick as soon as possible to minimize exposure to ourselves and to the
sailboat.
To tell you the truth we thought that once the 911 and Coast Guard told
us they were enroute that our job was done and we just stuck around to
observe. Given the lack of response for many hours it is obvious to me
now that we should have screamed like hell, called every media outlet,
and taken photos and video. Our naive mistake! World class response my
arse!
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