May 10, 1996. Copyright, 1996, Graphic News. All rights reserved

END IN SIGHT FOR SEA EMPRESS CLEAN-UP OPERATION
By Laura Spinney, Science Editor

LONDON, May 9, Graphic News- The bulk of the oil contaminating Welsh beaches after the Sea Empress disaster should be removed by the end of May, say scientists organising the clean-up campaign.

After the Sea Empress oil tanker hit rocks at the mouth of the Milford Haven estuary on the night of 15 February, 70,000 tonnes of light crude oil oozed from its wreck into the waters off the Welsh coast. Since then a 250-strong team from the Coast Guard Agency's Marine Pollution Control Unit has been scouring the beaches from Dale, just north of Milford Haven, to Pendine on the south Pembrokeshire coast.

Wave action has caused much of the oil to mix with seawater and form an emulsion, or mousse. In some places, that has made its removal easier, but not in others. ÔWhere itÕs still cold and buried, the emulsion is fairly stable,Õ says Kevin Colcomb, senior scientific officer at the MPCU. ÔWhere itÕs exposed to the sun, itÕs tending to break a lot and the waterÕs dropping out of it.Õ If the mousse breaks up on a cobble or boulder beach, the oil is likely to seep beneath the rocks: ÔThen you're talking about major civil engineering works to get it out,Õ he says. According to Brian Elliott, marine conservation officer for the Welsh Wildlife Trust, the clean-up operation has gone Ôextremely wellÕ. But there is still work to be done. ÔThe problem is that the oil is refloating every spring tide and redistributing itself,Õ he says.

By last weekend the total number of birds affected in Britain and Ireland was estimated to have reached 7,000. Of those, says Elliott, almost 5,000 have died and the rest have been cleaned and released by the RSPCA. The species that has been worst affected is the common scoter, a type of sea duck that spends the winter in Carmarthen Bay, about 60 kilometres along the coast from where the tanker came to grief.

The Countryside Council for Wales estimates that between 60 and 70 grey seals had been ÔoiledÕ by the end of March, though none are thought to have died. Oil can harm the mucus membranes of a sealÕs eyes, mouth and lungs, but the spill could also have a delayed impact on seals and other marine animals if it contaminates organisms lower down the food chain such as shellfish. In collaboration with other environmental and conservation bodies, the CCW has set up a programme to monitor the long-term impact of the disaster on local wildlife.

Sources: Coast Guard Agency, Welsh Wildlife Trust