Oil disaster off Spain

[Penn Gwynne <>]

Simon Mustoe <> wrote:

Hi,

This is slightly off-topic but since it is likely to concern seabirds and cetaceans, you may wish to know about it (see below). These kinds of events are becoming nearly annual in the Bay of Biscay region. The most recent worst incident was in Christmas 1999 when the Erika spilled 15,000 tonnes of fuel oil off the Brittany coastline, killing an estimated 120,000 - 300,000 seabirds (interestingly these figures were only available through the efforts of the long-term bird-banding scheme operated by the British Trust for Ornithology)

I wonder what a bird banding tag weighs when it's soaked in oil compared to the birds weight/flight ratio of the normal untagged legs? in most cases when birds at sea get coated it's the feet that cop it first right? ......

It's time to totally ban mono hulled shipping of all varieties eh ....... that might? just might stop olde JAG screaming at the barbaric practice of bird banding?

JAG with more tears as he remembers his days when he was just a number and the "Torrey Canyon" clean up by many.

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