- Email: [email protected]
Cleaning oiled birds in Scandinavia
Marine Pollution Bulletin
physiology than pollution, so that the results have never been fully published. In consequence, to keep track of the developing picture, or its failure to develop, it has become necessary to fall back on that much neglected source of intelligence (or should I say information?), the Annual Reports of the Station which was soon taken over by the NERC Institute for Terrestrial Ecology. Its Report for 1974 contains the last legacy by the Old Regime in the form of some very interesting maps of the distribution of PCBs, DDE and mercury in guillemots' eggs, showing marked maxima along the west coast of England and Wales. The reports then become preoccupied with the remarkably high natural levels of cadmium found in oceanic birds at St. Kilda, about which I have expressed my opinion elsewhere (Nature, Lond., 271,687, 1978), until 1979, when there are a further series of graphs showing the frequency distribution of toxic chemicals in gannets' eggs from the Bass Rock and Ailsa Craig on opposite sides of Scotland from 1972 to 1978. In the first place these graphs shed an interesting light on a previous report on pollutants in gannets' eggs which is not mentioned (British Birds, 70, 366-372, 1977); it recorded that in 1974 there was more organochlorine in the Firth of Clyde than the Firth of Forth. Since at that time it appears that the previous specimens showed the opposite (and this was not mentioned), although all subsequent specimens have done so, this seems to be an interesting example of the inspired selection of data. It appears that PCBs decreased
smartly to a minimum in both estuaries in 1975 but have since been increasing almost equally fast again, whereas DDE and dieldrin ceased to be recorded. Mercury levels have remained fairly stable except for a sharp peak of twice the normal level in the Forth in 1975, after which another organization found 450 ppm in a cormorant's liver the following year. Cadmium, which is not normally expected to reach birds' eggs in noticeable amounts, was also reported from both estuaries in 1977, with more in the Forth, but perhaps these results need checking. In general the picture is interesting, and distinctly encouraging for the pesticides, though less inspiring for the industrial chemicals, mercury and PCBs, but it is possible to feel some reservations. Compared with the species originally used for monitoring, such as the shag (Nature, Lond., 236, 454-456, 1972), the results for gannets prove very variable, perhaps because they move around more and show more variation in their diet, and it is extremely regrettable that investigations were not maintained on a variety of species instead of suddenly switching to a new one. There have also been appalling delays in producing even this handful of results in a very crude form (apparently due in part to the Government Chemist who does the analyses), when it should have been possible to convey much more information in the space used. It seems time that this laboratory stopped messing about with natural cadmium levels and returned to the serious study of marine pollution.
W. R. R BOURNE
Controversy Over UK Marine Reserves
Cleaning Oiled Birds in Scandinavia
Calls have been made for amendments to the United Kingdom Wildlife and Countryside Bill in a bid to persuade the Government to activate proposals for setting up marine nature reserves. Apart from the Government's apparent lack of enthusiasm for such reserves, the suggestion in an official consultation paper that such reserves should have a 1000 m seaward limit has been criticised by numerous environmental bodies. The limit has been described as 'ecological nonsense' and conservationists have called for the Government to declare reserves extending out to the British 3 mile territorial waters limit. Britain is already obliged to protect whales, dolphins and other marine species and their habitats. But with one of the longest coastlines in relation to its area of any island, Britain has, at present, no powers to protect her coastal waters while more than 60 countries already have marine reserves of one kind or another. The UK Government is, it seems, hesitant to legislate because of fears shared by certain state departments that marine reserves would interfere with land reclamation, oil exploration, fishing and waste disposal at sea.
The large number of oiled birds coming ashore in southern Scandinavia early this year led to attempts to clean and rehabilitate some of them, with the common experience that although apparently clean the birds still lacked a waterproof plumage. A group of ornithologists led by a veterinary surgeon than brought a dozen guillemots, unsuccessfully cleaned in Norway, together with a film team to the RSPCA Wildlife Field Unit near Taunton which has been successfully cleaning oiled birds for years (see Mar. Pollut. Bull., 11, 182, 215, 1980). There the Norwegians saw cleaned water-tight birds cheerfully swimming around in pools awaiting release and also had the pleasure of seeing their own birds properly cleaned and restored to full buoyancy. A month later, an even more impressive Norwegian delegation arrived at the Unit, led by the Minister for the Environment, and including members of the Oslo Zoological Museum and a representative of the Norwegian SPCA. The delegation had the treatment methods explained to them and then were able to apply their new knowledge immediately by cleaning some oily birds. It is now some years since BP published, and distributed, a glossy leaflet in Norwegian explaining the treatment
106
Volume 12/Number 4/April 1981
---...,
J
L
MID.CltA I" -/',4WK Rt//A0'
methods originally developed by the Research Unit on the Rehabilitation of Oiled Seabirds at Newcastle and used by the RSPCA Wildlife Field Unit. That was following unsuccessful attempts to clean birds oiled after a spillage near Troms¢~, but evidently the news travelled slowly or has been forgotten.
New Reference Work A new second edition of the Canadian Environmental Protection Service (EPS)'s A Selected Bibliography on the Fate and Effects o f Oil Pollution Relevant to the Canadian Marine Environment has recently been completed and contains more than 800 new references. It is available as Economic and Technical Review Report EPS 3-EC-80-5 from EPS Publications, 16th floor, Place Vincent Massey, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
New Bid to Tackle Rhine Pollution Waste salts dumped in the Rhine by Alsace potash mines at the estimated rate of 20 million kg a day may one day be disposed of in the North Sea. This was one of three potential methods agreed recently by ministers of the five countries through which the 800 mile long river flows. It is the latest attempt to solve problems caused by France's failure to ratify a 1976 treaty designed to combat pollution on the river by reducing discharges from the state-owned mines by storing the waste underground. The one day conference of Ministers held in The Hague also decided to explore the prospects of transporting the waste by pipeline to a disposal point and to make further investigation into underground storage in Alsace.
B.O.S.C.A. Forty-five companies offering specialized equipment and anti-pollution and oil spill control services have banded together to form the British Oil Spill Control Association (B.O.S.C.A.). It will be linked with the specialist marine activities of the Merchant Marine, Offshore, Naval and Fishing/Small Vessel equipment Associations under the umbrella of the British Marine Equipment Council in London.
Karachi Water Supplies Contaminated A study of drinking water supplies in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, which was prompted by a serious outbreak of gastro-enteritis last year, has found that virtually the whole city's supply is polluted by untreated sewage and industrial waste. 107
physiology than pollution, so that the results have never been fully published. In consequence, to keep track of the developing picture, or its failure to develop, it has become necessary to fall back on that much neglected source of intelligence (or should I say information?), the Annual Reports of the Station which was soon taken over by the NERC Institute for Terrestrial Ecology. Its Report for 1974 contains the last legacy by the Old Regime in the form of some very interesting maps of the distribution of PCBs, DDE and mercury in guillemots' eggs, showing marked maxima along the west coast of England and Wales. The reports then become preoccupied with the remarkably high natural levels of cadmium found in oceanic birds at St. Kilda, about which I have expressed my opinion elsewhere (Nature, Lond., 271,687, 1978), until 1979, when there are a further series of graphs showing the frequency distribution of toxic chemicals in gannets' eggs from the Bass Rock and Ailsa Craig on opposite sides of Scotland from 1972 to 1978. In the first place these graphs shed an interesting light on a previous report on pollutants in gannets' eggs which is not mentioned (British Birds, 70, 366-372, 1977); it recorded that in 1974 there was more organochlorine in the Firth of Clyde than the Firth of Forth. Since at that time it appears that the previous specimens showed the opposite (and this was not mentioned), although all subsequent specimens have done so, this seems to be an interesting example of the inspired selection of data. It appears that PCBs decreased
smartly to a minimum in both estuaries in 1975 but have since been increasing almost equally fast again, whereas DDE and dieldrin ceased to be recorded. Mercury levels have remained fairly stable except for a sharp peak of twice the normal level in the Forth in 1975, after which another organization found 450 ppm in a cormorant's liver the following year. Cadmium, which is not normally expected to reach birds' eggs in noticeable amounts, was also reported from both estuaries in 1977, with more in the Forth, but perhaps these results need checking. In general the picture is interesting, and distinctly encouraging for the pesticides, though less inspiring for the industrial chemicals, mercury and PCBs, but it is possible to feel some reservations. Compared with the species originally used for monitoring, such as the shag (Nature, Lond., 236, 454-456, 1972), the results for gannets prove very variable, perhaps because they move around more and show more variation in their diet, and it is extremely regrettable that investigations were not maintained on a variety of species instead of suddenly switching to a new one. There have also been appalling delays in producing even this handful of results in a very crude form (apparently due in part to the Government Chemist who does the analyses), when it should have been possible to convey much more information in the space used. It seems time that this laboratory stopped messing about with natural cadmium levels and returned to the serious study of marine pollution.
W. R. R BOURNE
Controversy Over UK Marine Reserves
Cleaning Oiled Birds in Scandinavia
Calls have been made for amendments to the United Kingdom Wildlife and Countryside Bill in a bid to persuade the Government to activate proposals for setting up marine nature reserves. Apart from the Government's apparent lack of enthusiasm for such reserves, the suggestion in an official consultation paper that such reserves should have a 1000 m seaward limit has been criticised by numerous environmental bodies. The limit has been described as 'ecological nonsense' and conservationists have called for the Government to declare reserves extending out to the British 3 mile territorial waters limit. Britain is already obliged to protect whales, dolphins and other marine species and their habitats. But with one of the longest coastlines in relation to its area of any island, Britain has, at present, no powers to protect her coastal waters while more than 60 countries already have marine reserves of one kind or another. The UK Government is, it seems, hesitant to legislate because of fears shared by certain state departments that marine reserves would interfere with land reclamation, oil exploration, fishing and waste disposal at sea.
The large number of oiled birds coming ashore in southern Scandinavia early this year led to attempts to clean and rehabilitate some of them, with the common experience that although apparently clean the birds still lacked a waterproof plumage. A group of ornithologists led by a veterinary surgeon than brought a dozen guillemots, unsuccessfully cleaned in Norway, together with a film team to the RSPCA Wildlife Field Unit near Taunton which has been successfully cleaning oiled birds for years (see Mar. Pollut. Bull., 11, 182, 215, 1980). There the Norwegians saw cleaned water-tight birds cheerfully swimming around in pools awaiting release and also had the pleasure of seeing their own birds properly cleaned and restored to full buoyancy. A month later, an even more impressive Norwegian delegation arrived at the Unit, led by the Minister for the Environment, and including members of the Oslo Zoological Museum and a representative of the Norwegian SPCA. The delegation had the treatment methods explained to them and then were able to apply their new knowledge immediately by cleaning some oily birds. It is now some years since BP published, and distributed, a glossy leaflet in Norwegian explaining the treatment
106
Volume 12/Number 4/April 1981
---...,
J
L
MID.CltA I" -/',4WK Rt//A0'
methods originally developed by the Research Unit on the Rehabilitation of Oiled Seabirds at Newcastle and used by the RSPCA Wildlife Field Unit. That was following unsuccessful attempts to clean birds oiled after a spillage near Troms¢~, but evidently the news travelled slowly or has been forgotten.
New Reference Work A new second edition of the Canadian Environmental Protection Service (EPS)'s A Selected Bibliography on the Fate and Effects o f Oil Pollution Relevant to the Canadian Marine Environment has recently been completed and contains more than 800 new references. It is available as Economic and Technical Review Report EPS 3-EC-80-5 from EPS Publications, 16th floor, Place Vincent Massey, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
New Bid to Tackle Rhine Pollution Waste salts dumped in the Rhine by Alsace potash mines at the estimated rate of 20 million kg a day may one day be disposed of in the North Sea. This was one of three potential methods agreed recently by ministers of the five countries through which the 800 mile long river flows. It is the latest attempt to solve problems caused by France's failure to ratify a 1976 treaty designed to combat pollution on the river by reducing discharges from the state-owned mines by storing the waste underground. The one day conference of Ministers held in The Hague also decided to explore the prospects of transporting the waste by pipeline to a disposal point and to make further investigation into underground storage in Alsace.
B.O.S.C.A. Forty-five companies offering specialized equipment and anti-pollution and oil spill control services have banded together to form the British Oil Spill Control Association (B.O.S.C.A.). It will be linked with the specialist marine activities of the Merchant Marine, Offshore, Naval and Fishing/Small Vessel equipment Associations under the umbrella of the British Marine Equipment Council in London.
Karachi Water Supplies Contaminated A study of drinking water supplies in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, which was prompted by a serious outbreak of gastro-enteritis last year, has found that virtually the whole city's supply is polluted by untreated sewage and industrial waste. 107