Rena Oil Spill Cleanup Disrupted by Sharks

Bad weather is not the only factor playing with the fate of the marine ecosystem affected by the hazardous oil spill generated by the crash of cargo ship Rena.

The crew in charge of cleaning up the mess has recently revealed that the presence of sharks is a major obstacle for the success of their mission, Nzherald informs.

Even though a team had to track and remove containers in East Cape area yesterday, the crew members were forced to abandon their goal because their sonar equipment was destroyed by sharks.

The team has managed to recover 17 containers during the weekend. So far, 227 containers have been collected by experts since the dramatic oil spill.

This is a rather modest number taking into consideration that the cargo ship involved in the incident was carrying 1368 containers at the time of the crash that took place on October 5th, in the Astrolabe Reef region off the coast of Tauranga.

Sharks aren't the only thereat in this case. It seems that experts call for a rapid, effective intervention, since extreme weather is worsening the already bad condition of the stricken vessel.

As if this factor wasn't enough to delay the container removal operation, the team has to deal with equipment failure. Despite these unfortunate disruptions, experts have revealed the operation would continue and the damages would be monitored by dive crews.

Rena oil spill is considered by experts one of the most dramatic marine catastrophes of all times. Greenpeace activists are currently joining efforts to convince New Zealand government to drop all the projects aiming to explore the benefits of deep sea drilling.

To support their point of view, they have launched a series of banners, using the body of a dead oily penguin to recreate disturbing images.

“The Rena oil spill is an environmental catastrophe. The effects on the local environment, community and economy will be felt for a long time. It has shown how impossible it is to deal with an oil spill and should be clear evidence for the New Zealand Government that its plans to open NZ waters to deep sea oil drilling should be dropped,” notes Greenpeace.