Small oil spill kills 10–20 000 seabirds in North Norway

Volume 10/Number 9/September 1979 Joensen, A. H. (1973). Danish seabird disasters in 1972. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 4,117-118. Joensen, A. H. & Hansen, E. B. (1977). Oil pollution and seabirds in Denmark 1971-1976. DanishRev. GameBiol., 10(5), 1-31. Johnston, R. (1970). The decomposition of crude oil residues in sand columns. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., 50, 925-937. Keizer, P. D., Ahem, T. P., Dale, J. & Vandermeulen, J. H. (1978). Residues of Bunker C oil in Chedabucto Bay, Nova Scotia, 6 years after the Arrow spill. J. Fish. Res. Bd Can., 35,528-535. Lind6n, O. (1976). Effects of oil on the reproduction of the amphipod Gammarus oceanicus. Ambio, 5, 36-37. Lind6n, O. (1976). The influence of crude oil and mixtures of crude oil/dispersants on the ontogenic development of the Baltic herring, Clupea harengus membras L. A mbio, 5, 136-140. Longwell, A. C. (1977). A genetic look at fish eggs and oil. Oceanus, 20, 46-58. Mackie, P. R., Hardy, R. &Whittle, K. J. (1978). Preliminary assessment of the presence of oil in the ecosystem at Ekofisk after the blow out, April 22-30, 1977. J. Fish. R es. Bd Can., 35,544-551. O'Sullivan, A. J. (1978). The Amoco Cadiz oil spill. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 9,123-128. Percy, J. A. & Mullin, T. C. (1977). Effects of crude oil on the locomotory activity of artic marine invertebrates. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 8, 35-39. Renzoni, A. (1975). Toxicity of three oils to bivalve gametes and larvae. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 6,125-128.

Marine Pollution Bulletin, Vol. 10, pp. 253-255 ©aergamon Press Ltd. 1979. Printed in Great Britain.

Sanders, H. L. (1977). The West Falmouth spill - Florida, 1969. Oceanus, 20, 15-24. Seeman, P. (1972). The membrane actions of anesthestics and tranquilizers.Pharmac. Rev., 24, 583-655. Shelton, R. G. J. (1971). Effects of oil and oil dispersants on the marine environment. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B., 177,411-422. Stegemann, J. J. & Teal, J. M. (I973). Accumulations, releaseand retention of petroleum hydrocarbons by the oyster, Crassostrea virginica. Mar. Biol., 22, 37--44. Swedmark, M., Granmo, .~. & Kollberg, S. (1973). Effects of oil dispersants and oilemulsions on marine animals. Wat. Res., 7, 1649-1672. Tagger, S., Deveze, L. & Le Petit,J. (1976). The conditions for biodegration of petroleum hydrocarbons at sea. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 7 (9), 172-174. Van Vleet, E. S. & Quinn, J. G. (1978). Contribution of chronic petroleum inputs to Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound sediments. J. Fish. Res. B d Can., 35,536-543, Wells, P. G. & Keizer, P. D. (1975). Effectiveness and toxicity of an oil dispersant in large outdoor salt water tanks. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 6, 153-157. Wells, P. G. (1972). Influence of Venezuelan crude oil on lobster larvae. Mar. Pollut. Bull., 3,105-106. Wilson, K. W. (1976). Effects of oil dispersants on the developing embryos of marine fish.Mar. Biol.,36, 259-268.

0025-326X/79/0901--0253 $02.00/0

Small Oil Spill Kills 10-20000 Seabirds in North N orway ROBERT T. B A R R E T T

Department of Zoology and Marine Biology, Troms¢ Museum, University of Troms¢, 9000 Troms¢, Norway An estimated 10-20 000 seabirds were killed by a very small oil spill off the coast of North Norway in March 1979. Despite the fact that over 90070 of these were Brnnnich's Guillemots Uria lomvia, the breeding population of this species was not considered to have been seriously threatened by this spill. On the other hand, this episode did illustrate how extremely vulnerable certain seabird species are to oil.

On 23 March, 1979 a few oiled seabirds were found on the shore between Vard¢ and Vads¢ in East Finnmark, North Norway (Fig. 1). More birds were found washed ashore on 24 March and the local police, the local game boards and the Finnmark Wildlife Manager were immediately notified. Notice was also given to the Norwegian Directorate for Wildlife and Freshwater Fish who then coordinated and f'manced all further operations concerning the birds. As yet no oil had been found along or immediately off the about 100 km long coastline, and all action was concentrated on humanely killing injured birds. This and the subsequent collection of all corpses found were carried out by members of the local game societies and army cadets. The corpses were later driven to Vads~ for sorting. No organized cleaning of oiled birds was attempted. By 29 March, when only a few birds were found and when the Directorate stopped all organized operations, an estimated total of 5 000 birds had been collected.

Despite 3-4 aerial searches during the week, only two or three small oil slicks were seen in the fjord and only two small areas of the shore were found covered in oil. In all cases the areas covered by oil amounted to a few hundred or thousand square metres. Samples of oil were analysed and results indicate that it was of a light fuel oil type. As yet the source of the oil is unknown. Despite so little oil being found, it is estimated that 1020 000 birds died as a result of oil pollution. This estimate is based on the approximately 5000 which were collected. It also takes into consideration those which never reached the shore and those which did but which either became frozen into the ice or which crept or were washed under the ice overhang at the top of the shore. There was a force 4-5 S to SE wind and at times much freezing spray from 24 to 29 March. Air temperatures ranged from - 6 to + 2°C. Of a sample of 1616 identified birds, 1477 or 91.4°70 were Brunnich's Guillemots Urialomvia. Other species found are listed in Table 1. To gather information concerning the birds to be found offshore, an air reconnaissance was made on 29 March. The flight was made along the coast from Vads¢ to Syltefjord and then 5-20 km out to sea N and E of Vard~. It returned to Vads~ via Grense Jakobselv and the southern shore of Varangerfjord. A large concentration of auks was seen about 10 km off Komagvaer, while 15-20 km NE and E of Vard~ immense flocks were seen (Fig. 1). Both flocks were impossible to

253

Marine PollutionBulletin i 3t°E

i

VARANGER PENINSULA

Flocks of Uria aalge

KOMAGVAR

VADSO

0

/

NON VARANGERFJORD N

GRENSE JACOBSELV f

20 km

!

l;Ig. 1 Map showingthe approximatepositions of bird flocksseen from

the air on 28 March, 1979. count but the first certainly numbered tens of thousands while that off Yard0 was of the order of several hundred thousand birds. Other flocks of auks were seen scattered all over the fjord. A flock of several thousand Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla was also seen about 10 km off Vard0. Local fishermen conf'Lrm that huge flocks of auks are always to be seen off the coast of Varanger Peninsula during March and April. Such accumulations coincide with the arrival of the Capelin M a i l o t u s viilosus at its spawning grounds in Varangerfjord at the end of its migration from TABLE1 The species composition of 1616 oiled birds collectedin Varangerfjord, March1979. Species Somateria mollissima S. spectabilis Polysticta stelleri Clangula hyemalis Mergus serrator Alca torda Uriaaalge U. lomvia phus grylle rcula arctica

No. 14 15 5 3

% of total 0.9 0.9 0.3 0.2

2

O.1

4 40 1477

0.2 2.5 91.4

3 52

0.2 3.2

TABLE2 Numbers of ducks counted in Vads0 harbour and along about 5 km of coast around Vads¢ in March 1969-1972(Grastveit, 1971;L. Johansen, unpublisheddata). Numbers Species Min. Mean Max. Somateria mollissima S. spectabilis Polysticta stelleri Clangula hyemalis

254

500

2212

5500

7 130 50

1670 650 101

5800 1100 250

the Barents Sea. There can be no doubt that the auks are attracted to the area by this abundant and readily available food supply. During February-April 1979 alone over 2.6 million hi of Capelin were taken out of Varangerfjord by fishing boats. Smaller concentrations of ducks were also seen during the aerial survey. They were much closer inshore along long stretches of the coast. Varangerfjord is an important wintering area for ducks, especially Eider Somateria mollissima, King Eider S. spectabilis, Steller's Eider Polysticta stelleri and to a smaller extent Longtailed Duck Clangula hyemalis. Varangerfjord is the only place in Europe where Steller's Eider, a species which breeds along the north coast of Russia and in Alaska, is known to spend the winter in significant numbers. Few have ever been reported west of Porsangerfjord (Haftorn, 1971). Table 2 shows results of duck counts made in March 1969-1972 in Vads0 harbour and along about 5 km of coast around Vads0. These counts are not representative of the whole stretch of coast because the birds are undoubtably attracted to the area round Vads~ by the Capelin processing factories in the harbour (Grastveit, 1971). However not all the ducks of Varangerfjord are there at the same time and one can assume that the numbers wintering in the fjord run into tens of thousands. O f these between 500 and 1000 were estimated to have been killed by this oil spill. Assuming that the auks sampled are representative of the huge concentrations seen off the coast, the majority of those on the sea were clearly Brunnich's Guillemots. Bear Island, Spitzbergen, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya and the Kola Peninsula are all important breeding areas for this species. Although the breeding population is unknown it is in the order of one or two million pairs (Norderhaug et al., 1977). O f the Barents Sea population, those from Spitzbergen and Bear

Volume 10/Number 9/September 1979

Island are thought to spend the winter in the waters off S.W. Greenland, while the remainder are found in the ice-free areas of the Barents Sea (Norderhaug et al., 1977). One can thus assume that nearly all the auks seen off the Varanger coast and those which were killed by the oil were part of the Russian population of Brunnich's Guillemots. Despite a possible mortality of 20 000 birds, the breeding population of Brunnich's Guillemots in the Barents Sea was thus probably not severely affected by what was first considered to be a serious disaster. This episode did, however, illustrate how very vulnerable certain seabirds, in this case auks, can be to very small oil spills. It also acted as a significant stimulant for those involved in the current, controversial

discussions concerning the planned exploration for oil in Norwegian waters north of 620N. I would like to thank Leon Johansen for allowing me to use his previously unpublished results of duck counts in Vadsl~, the Norwegian Meteorological Office for providing the weather data and the Norwegian Sales Organization for Herring for the Capelincatch figure. Financial and technical support was gratefully received from the World Wildlife Fund, Norway and the Norwegian Directorate for Wildlife and Freshwater Fish. Grastveit, J. ( 1971 ). SteLlers and ved V adso. Sterna, 10, 31 -33. Haftorn, S. (1971). NorgesFugler. Universitetsforlaget, Oslo. Norderhang, M., Brun, E. and M~llen, G. U. (1977).Barentshavets sj~fnglressurser. Forhold til tilknyting til status, milj¢problemer ng forskningsoppgaver., N o r s k Polar Inst. meddlr.. 104, 1-119.

0025-326X/79/0901--0235$02.00/0

MarinePollutionBulletin, Vol. 10, pp. 255-258 PergamonPressLtd. 1979.Printedin GreatBritain.

Effects on hatching in Littorina littorea after an oil spill JOHN TERJE STAVELAND Institute o f Marine Research, 5011 Bergen, Nordnes, Norway One year after an accidental spin of approx. 2000 t of Iranian crude oil on the west coast of Norway, specimens of the gastropod Littorina littorea were collected from the oil polluted shore and allowed to spawn in the laboratory. Snails were also collected from an unpolluted reference site. The oil contamination seemed to have no detectable effects on fertilization. However, the hatching success of the veHger larvae was significally less in the 'oil polluted' population. Some highly abnormal eggs were also observed in this egg population.

In February 1976, approx. 2000 t of Iranian crude oil were spilled off the west coast of Norway. Two days later, some of this oil contaminated the shoreline on Karmey Island. The incident was followed up by an extensive chemicalbiological investigation in the area. (Grahl-Nielsen et al., 1978). In March 1977, 13 months after the spill, significant amounts of oil hydrocarbons were still left in periwinkles from the oil polluted shore. Most of this was probably accumulated by grazing of the oil contaminated substratum and some by uptake from the water passing the gills. Laboratory investigations on the effects of oil pollution on marine animals indicate that the early life stages are the most sensitive in some organisms, e.g. crustaceans. (Rice et al., 1977) Most of these experiments have been carried out by exposing the eggs, sperm or larvae directly to oil polluted seawater in the laboratory. With few exceptions, no account has been taken of effects of oil on the maturing of eggs and sperm in the gonads. Rossi & Anderson (1977) detected high concentrations of diaromatic hydrocarbons in the gonads of the polychaete Neanthes arenaceodentata especially in the females, when exposed to fuel oil. High concentrations were also detected in the progeny. Linden (1976) found sublethal effects of oil on the reproduction in the amphipod Gammarus oceanicus.

Both the brood size and the frequency with which the male and female entered the precopulation stage were found to decrease in the presence of low concentrations of oil in the water. The purpose of the present work was to investigate if a long exposure to oil had any effects on fertilization and hatching success in Littorina littorea. No comparable work has been done on these gastropod before. However, Hargreave & Newcombe (1973) detected some sublethal effects of oil on crawling and respiration in the adult snail. L. littorea is a common, littoral gastropod found in great numbers along the Norwegian coast. At spawning, occurring mainly in the spring, one to six eggs are shed in each of approx. 500 disc-like egg capsules. After hatching, the free swimming veliger larvae feed in the plankton before sinking to the bottom where they metamorphose. Extensive bibliographies on the ecology and reproduction of L. littorea are given by Fretter & Graham (1962) and Fish

(1972).

Methods Snails were collected from a rocky, moderately exposed oil polluted area and from a non polluted reference site. Several snails were observed in copulation position. Ten females from the oil polluted area and seven from the reference-site were sampled immediately after copulation had ended. The sex was verified from sex determination of the corresponding males after removal of their shells. In addition, 30 animals from each of the two sites were collected for an experiment in the laboratory. The water temperature was approx. 2°C, and the salinity 30%0. The four groups of snails were transferred to separate plasticcontainers each with 25 I. untreated seawater for transport to the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen. The animals 255