News / Seabirds threatened by oil spill
SHETLAND’S seabirds could be victims of the oil spill at a Shell North Sea platform 112 miles east of Aberdeen, according to the bird charity RSPB.
Area manager Pete Ellis said that 2011 had been a disastrous breeding season for Shetland’s seabirds due to the lack of food, and now many species had returned to sea for the winter.
Mr Ellis said that the birds were more vulnerable to an offshore oil spill at this time of year and was surprised at the lack of information about the size of the spill and efforts to clean it up from Shell.
The oil company first announced the leak from a flowline attached to its Gannet Alpha platform on Friday, even though it was first noticed on Wednesday.
On Monday they revised the amount that had entered the North Sea up from 100 tonnes to 216 tonnes. Efforts to contain the spill had reduced the leak to five barrels a day, Shell said.
The company said high winds and waves over the weekend had reduced the size of the sheen on the surface to around 0.5 square kilometres.
The Maritime & Coastguard Agency are monitoring the area and a standby vessel with oil spill containment equipment is standing by.
The Scottish government has said that it will be seeking a “full and formal role” in any investigation carried out by the UK government.
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