Oil slick 'like golden syrup but it stinks'

JO-MARIE BROWN goes behind the scenes of Operation Jody, the biggest oil-spill cleanup in New Zealand history.

John Lee-Richards of the Maritime Safety Authority stares closely at the black blob of semi-dried oil in the palm of his hand.

The advisers gathered around him in the "incident command centre" - usually known as the Gisborne District Council's chambers - suggest that raking the balls of hardened oil off the beach would be the best solution.

"We should do that tomorrow," Mr Lee-Richards says. "Let's organise that."

As the authority's on-scene commander for Operation Jody, Mr Lee-Richards has been at the council building since 6 am. The clock has now crept past 7.30 pm, but those inside show no sign of slowing down.

Extension cords snake across the floor towards laptops, and the rows of people talking on telephones look like telethon pledge-takers.

To one side, a large plan of the interior of the stricken Jody F Millennium hangs from a whiteboard. Maps of where the ship's leaking fuel oil has been spotted along Gisborne's coastline, and lists of who's in charge of what, have transformed the meeting room into a hectic nerve centre.

Organising the biggest oil-spill cleanup in New Zealand's history has required more than a dozen agencies to work together. The Maritime Safety Authority has overall authority, but others pitching in include the Gisborne District Council, Environment Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay Regional Council, Department of Conservation, Massey University, health officials and police, fire and naval personnel.

Almost 100 people are directly involved in Operation Jody.

The oil slick seeping from cracks in the logging carrier's fuel tank has prompted the third "tier three", or national-level, response from the authority since it was set up in 1993.

For its marine oil spills operations manager, Neil Rowarth, that meant a phone call just before midnight on Waitangi Day to say a situation was developing at Gisborne that had "an oily flavour".

By 5 the next morning, he and other authority staff had assembled at their Auckland base to fly to Gisborne.

"This is probably the biggest beach clean-up we've ever been faced with," Mr Rowarth said. "It's one of the thicker oils, so that makes it harder [to clean up] in comparison with diesel."

A combination of grading the sand and spraying chemical dispersants along the water's edge was under way, but simple rake and bucket were proving just as effective.

Gisborne District Council contractors Carl Worsnop and Laurie Cantwell spent the weekend up to their knees in pungent, gluey oil.

"It's like golden syrup but it stinks," Mr Worsnop said as a load squelched from his bucket into disposal drums at the Waikanae Creek entrance.

Seagulls and other wildlife were also finding the going rough.

Seeing birds preen their oily feathers only to ingest the fuel was a sad reminder of why oil spills are such an environmental disaster.

A team of 25 people led by Dr Richard Norman, senior lecturer in wildlife health at Massey University, has set up a temporary clinic at Gisborne's AMP showgrounds for any creatures needing help.

"Once oil gets on the external feathers of birds, they cease to be waterproof," Dr Norman explained. "The birds get cold, they sink and they can drown."

He said the clinic could care for up to 200 oily birds, reptiles and mammals, but so far only one seagull was being treated. "But from the number of birds that have been observed to be slightly oiled, it's possible there will be more."

Back at the command centre, thrice-daily briefings keep everyone informed of developments.

Mr Lee-Richards admits that coordinating efforts to contain the spill, clean it up and salvage the ship is an enormous task.

"But we've got an excellent team outside the MSA that are helping us, and a lot of local people are doing an excellent job."