Fisherman say oil from Timor Sea rig poisoning fish
Updated
Today marks eight weeks since the West Atlas rig in the Timor Sea - between Australia and East Timor - started leaking oil at the rate of some 400 barrels a day. PTTEP Australasia hopes to intercept the leaking well tomorrow - the company's third attempt.
The Federal Government has announced an environmental monitoring program which the company will pay for. But the Greens say the government should ensure the program runs for longer than two years. The Greens believe the environmental impact of the spill has been much bigger than the government, and the company involved, are letting on.
And in news just to hand, Indonesian fisherman say the Timor oil spill has killed thousands of fish.
Presenter: David Weber
Speaker: John Wardrop, PTTEP's environmental scientist; Scott Ludlam, Western Australian Greens Senator; Ahmad Juniadi, Editor of The Archipelago
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DAVID WEBER: The Federal Government says little more than a dozen birds have been killed by the oil spill. PTTEP's environmental scientist John Wardrop says this isn't surprising but he says it's likely there are more dead animals out there somewhere.
JOHN WARDROP: Spill size isn't in itself the overriding criteria; I mean it really depends where the spill is. A small spill close to a nesting, roosting area of course can be catastrophic, particularly for birds. Whereas a much larger spill in the middle of nowhere, the impact's going to be a lot less.
The early indications of this one is that the wildlife hit is actually quite small.
DAVID WEBER: But is it possible that there are some dead animals where nobody has seen them?
JOHN WARDROP: Oh absolutely, I mean, you're not going to find every dead organism in the Timor Sea, but I think the fact that the numbers are so low is a good indicator that the numbers that there are, what may be out there aren't large. And the other things about floating bodies, certainly, is they tend to congregate in exactly the same place as your oil slick, and of course they've been targeted by surface vessels as well. So I think if there had been significant numbers out there then there would be an indicator of it.
DAVID WEBER: Environmentalists have described oil as the slow silent killer; is it possible that there will be impacts over the long term, the type of which we're not seeing now?
JOHN WARDROP: The slow silent killer's a good image it's just not a particularly accurate one. Oil in fact is an upfront pretty graphic killer. Longer term effects tend to be a little bit more subtle and only really where you've got persistent oils.
DAVID WEBER: There may be an estimate next week as to how much oil has spilled into the Timor Sea over the past eight weeks.
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has welcomed the Government's deal with the company on a monitoring program but he says it should be longer than two years.
SCOTT LUDLAM: The targeting of the study is about right. It's certainly good that they've taken this step and the company will be funding it. But if they're serious about looking after the long term impacts of this spill, which is still going even now, then they really need to be looking at six years or more.
DAVID WEBER: Senator Ludlam is sceptical of reports that the spill has killed only a small number of birds.
SCOTT LUDLAM: The company's been very keen to downplay the impacts of the spill on the wildlife of the area right from day one so I would take those sorts of comments with a grain of salt. I think we'll wait until that study is underway before we make any comments on the actual impacts.
GERALDINE COUTTS: Well, in new reports this morning Indonesian fisherman say the Timor oil spill has killed thousands of fish. Ahmad Juniadi is the editor of The Archipelago, an Indonesian publication with reporters in West Timor. He says dead fish have been seen floating in the waters near the spill.
AHMAD JUNIADI: Many residents complain that they got difficulties to catch fish because they found the oil spill have polluted the waters and killed thousands of fish in the water, so they have got difficulties to get fish, especially the local fisherman in the West Timor. The local authorities of the eastern (inaudable) say they will talk to the Australians authorities, they will conveny the complaints of the local fisherman. And they also complain that by eating these fishes they suffer some illness, like skin irritation or something
GERALDINE COUTTS: Ahmad Juniadi, the editor of The Archipelago.
