Archived News

UPDATE 17 February

Seven of the last of the oiled Little Penguins have been released, bringing the rehabilitation exercise to an effective close.  Two penguins unfit for release remain in care.

A total of 2299 dead birds was collected during the response, 1443 of which were oiled.

Removal of containers continues slowly from the wreck of the Rena.  So far 514 containers have been recovered from the ship by salvors and processed ashore. A further 70 containers have been recovered from land and sea.

See http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10786208

 UPDATE 21 January

After a spell of bad weather, removing containers from the stricken Rena has restarted, with 19 so far removed from the still-exposed bow section, and others from beaches where they have been found washed up.  Meanwhile an assortment of spilt contents is also washing up on the shore line, including latex gloves and packets of milk powder.  Little oil is leaking from the vessel, however.

Few oiled Little Penguins are now being found, due it is thought to most birds being ashore moulting in their burrows.  Only a few penguins remain in captivity following a recent release.

UPDATE 11 January

Bad weather and rough seas over the last week have caused the two sections of the Rena to separate: they are now about 30 m apart.  The stern section with the ship's superstructure has slipped partially off Astrolabe Reef and is now about 75% submerged, along with an estimated 400 containers still in its holds.   The smaller bow section, with more containers, remains exposed on the reef for now.

An estimated 150 containers were lost from the vessel when it broke up and they are now being sighted floating at sea and some are washing up on beaches, where recovery efforts are being made to remove them and their varied contents.

Small amounts of oil continue to leak from the wreck.  A total of 22 oiled Little Penguins are currently in captivity, along with a few other birds.

UPDATE 2 January

Following bad weather the shipwrecked Rena has now effectively broken into two, although both parts are considered to remain weln cpativityl grounded on a New Zealand reef (and may remain joined together below the water line).  Oil continues to leak from the vessel in small amounts and it is uncertain how much still remains aboard, but perhaps as much as 110 tonnes by one report.

At last report 341 containers had been removed by crane to the waiting barge, leaving over 900 still to go.  Two more containers have been reported as lost overboard in the recent bad weather.

Five more oiled Little Penguins have been collected in the last few days to add to the 15 or so still in captivity, along with two oiled diving petrels, the first procellariiform seabirds reported for some time.  So far 313 cleaned penguins have been released and are being monitored back on their breeding islands.  One hundred penguins died in captivity.

UPDATE 19 December

Releases of penguins have continued over the last few weeks, with now only 43 remaining in captivity, although four more oiled Little Penguins were found over the weekend.

Small amounts of oil continue to leak from the wrecked ship as the removal of containers slowly continues.  So far 227 of the 1368 originally aboard have been successfully removed, while 89 have fallen overboard.

UPDATE 22 November

The releasing of Little Penguins held in captivity to be cleaned of their oil has now commenced with the first 49 which had been collected from Rabbit Island let go at Mount Maunganui. Click here to view a video of their release.  The penguins have been microchipped and it is intended to monitor them to check on their health.

Meanwhile, removal of shipping containers from the now largely-oil free Rena to a barge has also started, with 84 taken off so far.

UPDATE 11 November

Following the recent slow progress with  removal of the last of the fuel and lubricating oils aboard the Rena, things have started to speed up and it is thought all the remaining oil will be removed by early next week if the weather continues to hold.  Removal of the containers will then commence by use of floating crane barges.  Fifty-seven of the containers lost overboard are still missing despite sonar searches of the seabed.  Meanwhile volunteers continue to clean the beaches of washed-up oil.  Fortunately, there have been no more oil leaks from the stricken vessel.

A trickle of oiled Little Penguins continues to arrive at the cleaning station, but there have been no recent reports of flying birds oiled.

UPDATE 2 November

Heavy (5-m) swells yesterday temporarily halted continued oil removal from the grounded Rena and new cracks have appeared, raising concerns of a break-up.  Over 1000 tonnes of oil have now been removed by being pumped to waiting vessels, with an estimated 300-350 tonnes remaining aboard.

A total of 406 birds is currently under care, 337 of them Little Penguins, with very few left to clean of oil.  The count of birds found dead from escaped oil has reached 1402, but there have been no recent reports of ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels being affected.  Beach clean-ups of washed-up oil is continuing with the aid of many volunteers.

Over 1200 containers remain to be removed from the Rena, but this is only set to commence once the ship is cleared of fuel and other oils.  Meanwhile of the 88 containers known to have been lost overboard, 58 remain unaccounted for.  Containers still aboard known to contain hazardous cargo are being marked with bouys and transponders to make them easier to track and recover if they do fall into the sea.

Information given in this news item has been garnered from various on-line news services and was believed to be correct at the time of writing.

UPDATE 26 October

After three weeks grounded on Astrolabe Reef a little over half (737 tonnes) of the remaining oil aboard the Rena has now been removed with no further spills to sea reported in the last two days. An estimated 650 tonnes or so of oil remain aboard, some in a submerged tank which will make the pumping operation more complex.  840 cubic metres of oil and waste has been collected from beaches as the varied contents of containers lost overboard wash ashore.

A total of 379 birds is being held in captivity, most of which (314 of which 108 are oiled) are Little Penguins, for which special aviaries are being built.  So far 1370 birds have been found dead.

UPDATE 24 October

Pumping of oil from the Rena has continued over the weekend and 337 tonnes have now been removed. However, a small (5-10 tonne) leak has also occurred, with concerns raised that it is heading for 1277-ha Tuhua Mayor Island, a wildlife refuge and marine reserve that supports seabird breeding populations, including of Little Penguins Eudyptula minor and burrowing petrels (click here).

Marine ornithologist Sandy Bartle reports that the Bay of Plenty region where the Rena is wrecked is a favouite haunt of visiting sub-Antarctic seabirds, as well as containing large breeding colonies of many burrowing petrels on a number of islands, some close to the wreck.  It is a major centre of seabird biodiversity (of at least 24 seabird species), and supports some quite large populations, especially of the Flesh-footed Shearwater Puffinus carneipes (a potential candidate ACAP species) on Karewa Island Wildlife Refuge.  Thirteen Flesh-foots have been found oiled in the Bay of Plenty at last report.  This species is also at risk to longline mortality.

Sooty Shearwater at sea: 13 have been reported victims of oil from the Rena
Photograph by John Graham

Over 6700 volunteers have registered for beach clean-ups of the oil that has come ashore with 50 clean-up operations conducted so far.  Several containers that washed overboard have been recovered.

UPDATE 21 October

Approximately 150 tonnes of oil has now been removed  from the wrecked container ship, with over a 1000 tonnes estimated as remaining.

Known bird fatalities now exceed 1250 and 273 live oiled birds are in care.  The organization International Bird Rescue has joined the efforts to clean these birds, which, however, are not as yet reported to include any ACAP-listed species. Birds in care in the Oiled Wildlife Recovery Centre in Tauranga include penguins and cormorants, as well as a Fluttering Shearwater Puffinus gavia.

However, 198 Fluttering Shearwaters have been found dead from oiling, along with 92 IUCN-Vulnerable Buller's Shearwaters P. bulleri.  Both species are endemic to New Zealand.  Other oiled shearwaters found dead include Flesh-footed P. carnepeis (13), Sooty P. griseus (13) and Little P. assimilis (15).

The Antipodean Albatross found dead from oil (see below) is now considered to be a Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans from outside New Zealand, based on measurements of its corpse by museum staff (see more with pictures at http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/tag/m-v-rena/).

For more information with regular updates go to:

Maritime New Zealand, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and RenaOilSpill.

UPDATE 19 October

The Rena's Captain and Navigational Officer have appeared in court facing charges under Section 65 of the Maritime Transport Act which relates to operating a vessel causing unnecessary danger or risk to a person or property.  The charge carries a maximum penalty of NZ$10 000, or a maximum term of imprisonment of 12 months.  Both men have been ordered to surrender their passports and not to apply for any travel documents.  They will reappear in court on 2 November.

Meanwhile bad weather is hampering the removal of oil and 88 containers are now reported as having been lost overboard.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has visited the National Oiled Wildlife Centre to witness operations to clean seabirds oiled by the disaster, now estimated to have killed over 1200.

UPDATE 17 October

Removal of fuel oil from the stricken vessel has commenced, with 70 tonnes reported as removed so far.

"Earlier reports that the Rena had broken up are incorrect.  Salvage experts advise that while the vessel is cracked port and starboard. it remains in one piece and is in the same position as it has been for the past week".

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The Rena, a laden container ship registered in Liberia, went aground in calm seas on "well-charted" Astrolabe Reef off Tauranga Bay on the North Island of New Zealand on 5 October, spilling containers into the sea and leaking heavy fuel oil as it started to break up in the heavy seas that followed.  The Rena was built in 1990 and was carrying 1351 containers of goods when it ran aground, according to its owners.

It is now reported there are 60 kilometres of oiled coastline from the estimated 350 tonnes of oil that have leaked from the stricken vessel so far.  An estimated 1300 tonnes of heavy fuel oil remains aboard but efforts to remove the oil have been hampered by heavy seas.

"This event has come to a scale where it is New Zealand's most significant environmental maritime disaster,' Environment Minister Nick Smith told reporters in Tauranga, adding that the clean-up would take weeks".

By 14 October, 801 oiled birds had been identified, mostly shearwaters Puffinus spp. (321 of five species) and Common Diving Petrels Pelecanoides urinatrix (458) (click here). So far from among ACAP-listed species the following have been reported oiled: Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis (1), White-capped Albatross Thalassarche steadi (1) and Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes halli (2).

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has stated "This is a ship that's ploughed into a well documented reef in calm waters in the middle of the night at 17 knots, so somebody needs to tell us why that's happened".  The Captain of the Rena has been arrested and faces charges under New Zealand's Maritime Act.

It is intended to update this news item as more information comes to hand - much as was done for the Oliva oiling incident on the Tristan da Cunha Islands in March this year (click here).

Information given in this news item has been garnered from various on-line news services and was believed to be correct at the time of writing.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 16 October 2011, last updated 21 January 2012