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Booming operations underway with Rena and support vessels in the background. - Source: Maritime New Zealand -
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Nearly half the oil left on board the grounded container ship Rena off Tauranga has now been pumped off to the bunker barge Awanuia.
Maritime New Zealand Salvage Unit Manager Bruce Anderson said 164 tonnes had been pumped off the ship over the past 24 hours, the highest daily rate to date.
This brings the total amount of oil pumped off the ship to 645 tonnes, with about another 700 tonnes still on board.
All of the oil pumped off so far has come from the port number 5 tank, and pumping began this afternoon on the three tanks in the engine room which together hold around 250 tonnes of oil. This oil is being pumped into port number 5 tank and then out to the Awanuia.
Anderson emphasised that getting the oil out of the submerged starboard number 5 tank which holds 358 tonnes of oil remained a significant challenge.
There had been no more significant leakages of oil from the ship, National On-Scene Commander Rob Service said.
A small oil spill of around 5 to 10 tonnes from Saturday night was still in the area of the Rena and breaking up naturally in the water, he said.
"We are tracking the oil which is heading north. Our predictions, however, are based on current weather and tide conditions and these are changing rapidly."
Service said a small amount of the oil could reach the shorelines of Mayor Island and the Coromandel, south of Whangamata.
"If it does reach the shorelines, it will have been in the water for five or six days and will have broken down naturally quite a bit. What people may see are small patties or balls of tar."
Mayor Island is a wildlife refuge, home to many native birds, and has a five-square-kilometre marine reserve off its northern coast.
Service said teams were planning for any potential impact and the rapid deployment of shoreline assessment officers.
An offer of 200 volunteers for beach clean-up duties had already come in from Newmont Waihi Gold, the company that runs the mine in Waihi. A number of volunteers in the Coromandel had also already been trained.
Maritime NZ has also sent a Department of Conservation-led wildlife team to Mayor Island. They are working with iwi to assess the situation there and wildlife officers are now being permanently stationed on the island, he said.
The wildlife team reported there was no oil on the beaches on
Mayor Island.
However, the team has collected two oiled birds - a fluttering
shearwater and a little blue penguin.
"We think the birds may have been oiled at sea and come in at night," said Kerri Morgan, Oiled Wildlife Response Manager.
The oiled birds have been taken back to the Wildlife Response Centre at Te Maunga for treatment.
A stabilisation site had now been set up on the island to deal with any more oiled wildlife found.
Blue penguins enclosure
Meanwhile, a new enclosure for little blue penguins at the Wildlife Response Centre at Te Maunga is nearly complete.
Each of 10 aviaries can house up to approximately 25 penguins, and has an indoor pool and communal areas for the penguins to preen, feed and swim.
Morgan said the centre has 314 penguins in its care and the enclosures will be able to house them more comfortably long term.
"It is too early at the moment to say when they can be released, but we want to ensure all the penguins are healthy and well nourished before this takes place," she said.
The centre now has 379 live birds in its care including the 60 New Zealand dotterels that were caught pre-emptively.
More than 1300 dead birds have been recovered since the Rena struck Astrolabe Reef on October 5, spilling 350 tonnes of oil and 88 containers into the sea.
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