SEA birds, turtles and fish are being choked to death by an oil slick lapping Queensland's Moreton Island and Sunshine Coast caused by a cargo ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of explosives which was damaged when caught in the aftermath of a tropical cyclone.
The Pacific Adventurer was docked in Brisbane yesterday, having lost 600 tonnes of ammonium nitrate overboard, and about 30 tonnes of oil from a punctured fuel tank. An investigation under way last night could lead to heavy fines for the vessel's Hong Kong-registered operator, Swire Shipping.
The oil slick is affecting a 15-kilometre stretch between Cape Moreton and Blue Lagoon, with pelicans, fish and a turtle rookery thought to be contaminated. The outgoing tide had revealed an oily film along the shore, dotted with dead fish. Problems could worsen because the explosives lost overboard were water-soluble and could fertilise a giant algal bloom along the coast. The 31 missing containers of ammonium nitrate have sunk and may already be leaking 200 metres down on the sea floor.
About 80 personnel were involved in the clean-up and wildlife rescue last night, with the operation expected to take about a week, Queensland's Minister for Transport, John Mickel, said.
The State Government and the Maritime Safety Authority said the investigation had the power to impose sanctions, including fines of up to $1.5 million.
"We've spoken to the ship's captain and he was a bit anxious with his condition out there, with the sea, which has been whipped up by cyclone Hamish," the general manager of Maritime Safety Queensland, John Watkinson, said. "It's a pretty nasty situation."
The ship had been loaded with about 800 tonnes of the blasting ingredient at Newcastle and was bound for Indonesia, where the explosives were to be used for mining and quarrying by Newmont Mining Corporation. It was produced near Newcastle by the Australian explosives manufacturer Orica.
Swire Shipping said last night it would co-operate in the investigation and clean-up and was flying its oil spill expert in from the Middle East.
"The company very much regrets the environmental impact caused as a consequence of the vessel being caught in cyclone Hamish," it said in a statement. "The company and its insurers will meet all their responsibilities. It has chartered a helicopter to survey the extent of the oil slick and to try to locate the containers."
The tonne of ammonium nitrate spilled on the ship's deck was safely cleaned up yesterday, and the remaining 19 containers removed and stored near Brisbane's port.
Orica said its ammonium nitrate, which can used as fertiliser as well as an explosive agent, was sealed in containers and unlikely to lead to an algal bloom.
"It would create an algal bloom only if it was in high enough concentrations, and once it's in the sea water it will be very diluted," an Orica spokeswoman, Lisa Walters, said.
"It would need the water to be relatively still, and we don't believe that will be the case."
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