Point Reyes Light - December 27, 2001

More oiled birds show up on coast

By Patrik Jorgensen

Investigators from the state Department of Fish and Game and the Coast Guard are still puzzled over the origins of an oil spill that in the last month has injured or killed more than 700 sea-birds from Point Reyes to the Monterey peninsula.

Fish and Game public affairs officer Rob Hughes told The Light this week that the total number of oiled birds found in the wide-ranging area since Nov. 24 has reached 772. Some 450 birds – mostly common murres – were dead upon discovery or died in transit, and another 150 died at wildlife care facilities. Only 50 birds have been rehabilitated and released so far, he said.

Hughes said that authorities are especially concerned about the trends because the way the birds have been found does not correlate with previous oil-spills. "This is one of the most unusual spills we've ever had," he said.

When the first oil-mired birds started washing up in West Marin and points south around Thanksgiving weekend, Coast Guard officials speculated that the oil may have come from a ship's bilge-water, which is typically contaminated with oil from the motors. (It is legal for ships to empty their bilge 30 miles offshore and beyond.)

Spill baffles investigators

However, with the number of injured and dead birds rising, officials now believe the spill was much larger than previously thought. While authorities generally believe the oil has come from a single source, they are reluctant to speculate on what it could be.

Point Reyes National Seashore ranger John Golda told The Light that Stinson Beach appears to be the northernmost area afflicted by the spill, noting that only five oiled birds have been found along the Point Reyes coastline. "For the most part, we've been pretty lucky," he said.

Despite the small number of affected birds discovered in the National Seashore, Golda said, "the five we did find were heavily oiled." He added that because the breeding season for common murres starts in the spring, it is essential that the source is identified and cleaned up before then. "Thirty thousand to 40,000 birds nest along Point Reyes headlands during breeding season, and this could wipe out a whole colony," he said.

Oil slick off Point Reyes

Hughes of state Fish and Game said that investigators might be forced to search the entire area to find the source of the oil. He said an oil slick on Dec. 8 was identified about eight miles east of the Farallon Islands, between the Farallones and Point Reyes, but the slick has since disappeared and the origins have not been determined.

Hughes explained that oil samples from birds' feathers, a tar ball found on the San Francisco shoreline, and the slick found off the coast of Point Reyes, were sent for analysis to a Coast Guard laboratory in Connecticut and to Fish and Game's Petroleum Chemistry Laboratory in Suisun City. After reviewing all the data, "the samples from this incident do not match anything in our library oil samples," he said.

Scott Newman, a veterinarian for the International Bird Rescue Center in Cordelia, Solano County, where some of the oiled birds have been treated, said that the investigation has been hindered by the fact that oiled birds have been found across such a long stretch of coastline. "We're recovering these birds from a very large geographical area, which is a little strange."

Low survival rate

Newman said it is also unusual to find birds affected by a spill over such a long period of time. "We usually find the highest concentration in the first week, but now we've had a steady pace for a month. It's a challenging evolution of events."

Newman noted that his center is typically able to release 50 to 70 percent of the birds brought in, but "this time it is closer to 50 percent."

While the number of oil-soaked birds turning up on beaches has been declining during the last few days, Hughes said that oil from the spill may still be off the coast. "The way this spill has been going, we just don't know," he said.

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