Volunteers face gargantuan task of cleaning New Zealand’s oil-soaked beaches

New Zealand’s government is calling it the country’s “most significant maritime environmental disaster” ever. A massive oil spill off New Zealand’s North Island has got hundreds of volunteers scrambling to limit the damage to beaches.

On October 5, a cargo ship named Rena hit a reef near the Bay of Plenty, home to some of the most beautiful beaches in New Zealand. The ship contained more than 1,600 tons of oil; approximately 350 tons have already leaked into the bay.

On Monday, maritime authorities started pumping the remaining oil from the ship onto a barge. However, poor weather conditions made this task so difficult that they had to suspend operations on Tuesday. Time is quickly running out – it would take several days to pump out all the ship’s oil, but Rena is at risk of breaking apart sooner than that. Only a small amount of oil has been pumped out so far.

Oil has already reached the coast, killing hundreds of birds. Local residents are now teaming up to rid their beaches of tar balls.

"At first glance the beach looks pretty clean, but in fact the sand is drenched in oil. It's horrible!"

Tamsin Oliver lives in Mount Maunganui, a resort town in the Bay of Plenty.

I decided to volunteer to clean the beach near where I live, because it’s where I spend all my summers. I couldn’t stand by and watch this disaster unfold; I had to do something. However I didn’t rush into it – I did some research to find out what precautions I needed to take before I started picking up tar balls.

Once I read everything I could find on the subject, I joined one of the clean-up crews organised by the New Zealand navy. A navy officer taught us different techniques for cleaning the sand.

To someone who doesn’t know what an oil spill looks like, the beach looks pretty clean at first glance. But in fact, the sand is drenched in oil. It’s horrible! When you look closely, you can see bits of oil residue just a few centimetres under the sand. It’s got to be cleaned up as quickly as possible. The task is enormous. After four hours spent on all fours sifting through the sand, I realized I had only cleaned two metres of the beach!

Hundreds of us worked up and down the coast, by groups of ten, each group headed by a supervisor. It was really touching to see so many people working together. Shopkeepers even came out to give us free food.

Video filmed by Tamsin Oliver on October 16, 2011. 

"It’s sickening to see how badly this is going to affect our coastal ecosystem"

Most of the beaches are now closed to the public; only volunteers can go to them. Even on the beaches that remain open, people are not allowed to go swimming. Everyone knows oil is toxic, and that they should limit their exposure to it. The solvents used to break up the oil in the ocean can also be very bad for your health. Most of all, however, I’m worried about the oil’s effects on our environment. Hundreds of birds have died already. It’s sickening to see how badly this is going to affect our coastal ecosystem.

Photo taken by Tamsin Oliver on October 16, 2011.

This is also going to be very tough on our region’s economy. Our biggest industry, the sale of kiwis, has been struggling these past months. Some companies have already shut down. Now, with this oil spill, the only two industries that were weathering the economic crisis – fishing and tourism – are going to take a serious hit. Due to the spill, there’s a ban on all seafood. People in these industries may have to leave the region.

Volunteers cleaning their boots after the beach clean-up. Photo taken by Tamsin Oliver on October 16, 2011.      

"We expect more oil to reach our coast"

With the bad weather we’re having, and with the ship still leaking, we expect more oil to reach our coast. It’s really sad to think that all our efforts during this weekend’s clean-up were useless. We’ll have to clean the beaches all over again. It’s depressing, but I’m proud of the way our community came together in this time of crisis. We know that all that time we spent on our hands and knees was lost… but it was better than doing nothing!

I plan to continue cleaning our beaches as long as necessary, because I know it will take months, even years, before the situation goes back to normal.”

Post written with FRANCE 24 journalist Cécile Loïal.