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Starfish kill
Dark-Bellied Brent Geese feeding on Zostera on the mudflats near Foulness.
range, suggesting that it has reached its limit. The threat that the new London airport poses to the Brent is considerable. England now provides the winterquarters of half the world population and on the Foulness sands, numbers have reached 7,000. Thus the airport would exterminate more than a fifth of the world population of the goose, for even if some habitat remained, all the large birds, which besides the Brent include 5,000 Wigeon, 200 Mute Swans and countless waders and gulls, would have to be driven away because they would be a danger to the aircraft. The Foulness airport by itself renders the future of the Dark-Bellied Brent Goose dubious, but together with the other prime examples of man's attitude towards estuaries and wetlands, it makes the future seem impossible. By the end of this decade, the vast Delta works in the south of the Netherlands will eliminate
many of the other Brent feeding grounds, and when. further north, the Friesian Islands are linked by dams to cut off the Wadden See, the Brent will have no place in the Netherlands. And in Britain, the Brent will again be threatened if the plans to close off the Wash in a barrage scheme go ahead. One obvious way of solving the problem would be to increase the production of the food plant. Zostera, elsewhere. This idea has already been thoroughly investigated without success but it would surely be sensible to attach much greater importance to this research. Why should it be ignored when the full force of science and technology are applied to the other problems of building an airport at Foulness? One wonders how long it will be before governments are willing to delay technological expansion for the sake of wildlife and its environment.
Starfish Kill
Stilbaii Oil Spill Fumble
Early on February 27, 1971, the Liberian registered According to a report circulated by the S~mithqonlan .Institution.for Short-lived Phenomena, there was a very tanker Wafra of 68,000 tons deadweight with 63,174 large kill of starfish, probably Asterias forbesii or tons of Arabian blend crude oil destined for Cape A. vulgaris, along the coast of Cape Hatteras north to Town suddenly developed a leak- At the time the ship Rehoboth Beach. Dr Maureen Downey. of the Division was in a position 35 ° 01'S, 20 ° 02'E. The next day, the of Echinoderms at the Smithsonian Institution in Wash- after section of the Wafra grounded on a reef and three i n , o n , DC, who reported the incident, remarks that of her tanks were ruptured. Oil reachegt the beaches bethe kill was noticed on the weekends of April 16 and 27. tween Cape Agulhas and Struisbaai the same day. During salvage efforts more tanks were damaged and The dead starfish were first reported to have been seen at Nag's Head Beach, just above Cape Hatteras in eventually nine of the ship's eighteen tanks were leakNorth Carolina on the weekend of April 16-18. The ing. The coastline was contaminated heavily between following weekend, someone who was down at the Cape Agulhas and Struisbaaipunt, with intermittem Cape Hatteras beach reported that the beach was pollution extending westward to Quoin Point. An oil covered with dead starfish. That same weekend, the slick started to move parallel to the coast in a westerly Curator of Pale0botany for the Smithsonian, Dr F. direction and was eventually 32 km long and up to 5 t4,eber, was down at Rehoboth Beach on the coast "o~ km wide. In March onwards maritime reconnaissance aircraft Maryland. He reported that the driftline was full of dead starfish. The dead starfish appear to have num- of the South African Air Force accompanied by scienbered in the thousands..The cause of the kill is unknown. tists of the Division of Sea Fisheries flew daily to the 83
range, suggesting that it has reached its limit. The threat that the new London airport poses to the Brent is considerable. England now provides the winterquarters of half the world population and on the Foulness sands, numbers have reached 7,000. Thus the airport would exterminate more than a fifth of the world population of the goose, for even if some habitat remained, all the large birds, which besides the Brent include 5,000 Wigeon, 200 Mute Swans and countless waders and gulls, would have to be driven away because they would be a danger to the aircraft. The Foulness airport by itself renders the future of the Dark-Bellied Brent Goose dubious, but together with the other prime examples of man's attitude towards estuaries and wetlands, it makes the future seem impossible. By the end of this decade, the vast Delta works in the south of the Netherlands will eliminate
many of the other Brent feeding grounds, and when. further north, the Friesian Islands are linked by dams to cut off the Wadden See, the Brent will have no place in the Netherlands. And in Britain, the Brent will again be threatened if the plans to close off the Wash in a barrage scheme go ahead. One obvious way of solving the problem would be to increase the production of the food plant. Zostera, elsewhere. This idea has already been thoroughly investigated without success but it would surely be sensible to attach much greater importance to this research. Why should it be ignored when the full force of science and technology are applied to the other problems of building an airport at Foulness? One wonders how long it will be before governments are willing to delay technological expansion for the sake of wildlife and its environment.
Starfish Kill
Stilbaii Oil Spill Fumble
Early on February 27, 1971, the Liberian registered According to a report circulated by the S~mithqonlan .Institution.for Short-lived Phenomena, there was a very tanker Wafra of 68,000 tons deadweight with 63,174 large kill of starfish, probably Asterias forbesii or tons of Arabian blend crude oil destined for Cape A. vulgaris, along the coast of Cape Hatteras north to Town suddenly developed a leak- At the time the ship Rehoboth Beach. Dr Maureen Downey. of the Division was in a position 35 ° 01'S, 20 ° 02'E. The next day, the of Echinoderms at the Smithsonian Institution in Wash- after section of the Wafra grounded on a reef and three i n , o n , DC, who reported the incident, remarks that of her tanks were ruptured. Oil reachegt the beaches bethe kill was noticed on the weekends of April 16 and 27. tween Cape Agulhas and Struisbaai the same day. During salvage efforts more tanks were damaged and The dead starfish were first reported to have been seen at Nag's Head Beach, just above Cape Hatteras in eventually nine of the ship's eighteen tanks were leakNorth Carolina on the weekend of April 16-18. The ing. The coastline was contaminated heavily between following weekend, someone who was down at the Cape Agulhas and Struisbaaipunt, with intermittem Cape Hatteras beach reported that the beach was pollution extending westward to Quoin Point. An oil covered with dead starfish. That same weekend, the slick started to move parallel to the coast in a westerly Curator of Pale0botany for the Smithsonian, Dr F. direction and was eventually 32 km long and up to 5 t4,eber, was down at Rehoboth Beach on the coast "o~ km wide. In March onwards maritime reconnaissance aircraft Maryland. He reported that the driftline was full of dead starfish. The dead starfish appear to have num- of the South African Air Force accompanied by scienbered in the thousands..The cause of the kill is unknown. tists of the Division of Sea Fisheries flew daily to the 83