The Green Room

Forest & Bird » Other

1. Marina Skinner
   User Profile

   Forest & Bird's Tauranga-based field officer, Al Fleming, is our co-ordinator for help with wildlife affected by the oil spill. Here are his instructions:
   People willing to volunteer can ring 0800 333 771 and provide their contact details and information on how they can help.
   People can also go to a one hour induction/training session at Te Maunga Wastewater Treatment Plant, Truman Lane (near Baypark stadium), Mt Maunganui. A session will be held at 3:00pm Saturday 8th October. Please carry identification as there is security on the gate. Make sure you have covered footwear with you. There may be a request for volunteer crews to assist with wildlife rescue or other work associated with the response. Your details will all be recorded when you attend the induction.

   Found oiled wildlife
   If you see any oiled wildlife (birds, seals etc) please call 0800 333 771 to report it. Please leave a detailed message if you don’t get through to somebody. If you have time, please stay with the oiled animal to ensure it is not disturbed or injured by dogs etc. If the animal moves please try and record where it goes. DO NOT touch or pick up the animal, as the oil is toxic.

   The Bay of Plenty Regional Council (BOPRC) would also like your help with wildlife observations. If you are walking along the beach in the next few days can you please take a copy of the attached form and fill it in. Then either email it to the BOPRC at renawildlife@boprc.govt.nz, fax it to 0800 884 882 or phone the Oiled Wildlife Hotline on 0800 333 771.

   Attachments

   1. Rena_wildlife_form.pdf (33 KB, 3 downloads) 7 months old

   Posted 7 months ago #

2. Marina Skinner
   User Profile

   From Tauranga-based Forest & Bird field officer Al Fleming:
   The stranding of the Rena in the Bay of Plenty could become New Zealand’s worst maritime disaster.
   The call went out to Forest &Bird members in the Central North Island region and they have responded in droves.
   An Oil Wildlife Response Centre has been set up at Mt Maunganui to rehabilitate oiled wildlife. About 150 people – many of them local Forest & Bird members – were at the volunteer induction session yesterday.
   At this stage the response centre has enough volunteers but keep your ear to the ground because if things get worse there may be further calls for assistance.
   I am currently based at the response centre helping with volunteer co-ordination and helping to set up camp. To date 8 oiled birds have been found, (6 little blue penguins and 2 shags).
   Today oiled wildlife patrols were carried out on the main beach between Mt Maunganui and Maketu, and also around Pukehina.
   Four teams are searching the Motiti Island coastline. If any distressed animals are found they are given first aid and transported back to the response centre at the Mount. There are also searches happening on Matakana Island, and one planned for Rabbit Island (Moturiki Island) later today.
   DOC has a strong presence, with about 40 staff from the wider Bay of Plenty and Coromandel regions. They are helping with beach patrols, transporting teams to Motiti and informing the public about what to look for.
   Forest & Bird is also monitoring the response to the stranding event and liaising with the Incident Command Centre on salvage operations and the response to the oil spill. The weather window is closing and there is immediate need to remove the fuel oil from the boat.
   Maritime New Zealand has the most up to date reports on the vessel stranding and how the response is progressing - http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/default.asp
   Public hotlines
   Members of the public with information for the oil spill response team can call 0800 OIL SPILL (0800 645 774).
   Members of the public with information on oiled wildlife should call 0800 333 771.

   Attachments

   1. Conservation_news_Oiled_penguin.jpg (32.9 KB, 3 downloads) 7 months old

   Posted 7 months ago #

3. elanahawke
   User Profile

   Hi, I'm an environmental science postgraduate student at the University of Auckland. However, I have spent the past year doing research out in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP Oil Spill. I was wondering if anyone knew of any group/organizations that are doing water quality testing and ecosystem analyses on the spill, as I would like to offer my skills in any way possible. It's also imperative that these begin as soon as possible so that we have baseline data to assess whether the environment continues to degrade or recovers in the months/years ahead. Cheers Elana

   Posted 7 months ago #

4. Mandy
   Administrator

   Maritime New Zealand is warning the public to stay away from beaches near Tauranga because the water is considered to be highly toxic.

   A base of tents, tanks and makeshift laboratories set up at Mt Maunganui capable of taking up to 500 birds. These tents are equipped with around 200 trained volunteers - many of them from Forest & Bird.

   So far nine birds have been rehabilitated however it is expected many more birds will wash up in the coming days. There is no need for more volunteer help - however this situation may change. We'll keep you updated.

   Here's a brochure on how to help

   Attachments

   1. MV_Rena_repsonse_DLE_hand_out_single.pdf (326.3 KB, 1 downloads) 7 months old

   Posted 7 months ago #

5. Marina Skinner
   User Profile

   Elana - If you haven't already found an answer to your question, you could contact Forest & Bird field officerAl Fleming at a.fleming@forestandbird.org.nz
   Al is co-ordinating Forest & Bird efforts to help with the oil spill.

   Posted 7 months ago #

6. Mandy
   Administrator

   Tomorrow morning, our Central North Island Field Officer, Al is going to be appearing on Breakfast TV - keep your eyes peeled!

   Posted 7 months ago #

7. Mandy
   Administrator

   Here's the link - http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast/daily-overwrite-video-1001746 - see chapter one

   Posted 7 months ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.