THE OIL MENACE.

Forest and Bird, Issue 13, 1 September 1927, Page 13

THE OIL MENACE.

In the House of Commons on 24th February, Captain GarroJones asked the Minister of Agriculture if he was aware of the danger to inshore fisheries and deep-sea pelagic fisheries caused by oil pollution, and whether he had taken any steps towards remedying the evil?—Mr. Guinness said that there had been complaints from time to time of damage to inshore fisheries, but evidence of specific damage related more to the fouling of gear than injury to fish. No clear indication was given of injury to fish or marine life generally, but it might arise in coastal waters through oil residue accumulating at the bottom of the sea. There was no evidence as to deep-sea fisheries. The Government hoped that effect would be given to the recommendations of the International Conference by an International Convention signed by all the maritime Powers. At the meeting of the Kent and Essex Sea Fisheries Committee, at Ramsgate, on 14th March, it was decided to bring forward again the question of the harm done by oil-discharge, at the annual meeting of the Sea Fisheries Committee. They were of opinion that the fixing of a limit, as proposed by the Washington Conference, would not solve the problem, as wind and tide would still carry the oil to the fishing grounds. It was decided to urge instead the use of the “0.K.” apparatus on vessels to deal with the oil. There has been an increase in the number of oiled birds picked up dead and dying on the Kent and Sussex coasts. “Those still alive we kill,” writes one correspondent; “it seems the kindest way of putting them out of their misery.” The R.S.P.B. Watchers on Dungeness also report that the number of birds washed up has been distressingly large. According to the “Daily Express,” there are some 4,000 oil-

burning ships on the seas, but about forty only have been equipped with oil separators. One notable step in this direction is the “Majestic,” the world’s largest liner, which is in dock at Southampton, is now being fitted with a separator. This separator has been constructed to filter 150 tons of oily water in an hour, and it is claimed that the value of the oil it will save in a single transatlantic voyage will be from £IOO to £SOO. Lieut.-General Sir Edwin Alderson writes in the “Daily Mail” (24th March, 1927) of the sufferings of sea-birds through discharged oil at Folkestone: — “One of these birds came right ashore. The surf on the pebble beach was hardly perceptible, yet this bird, who could probably defy any ordinary storm, was rolled over and over, and twice drawn back by the undertow. “Eventually he struggled ashore and stood on the beach. I managed to catch him and found, as I suspected, that his wings and whole plumage were saturated with oil. He was very thin, his breastbone being nearlv through his skin. No doubt he was starving, as he could neither fly nor dive properly for his food.” Through the help of the International Council of Women and its president, the Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, letters from the Federal Council of Australia and from National Councils have appeared in the Melbourne “Argus,” the Brisbane “Courier,” and other leading papers, calling attention to the grave problem presented by oil pollution and to the leaflet issued by the R.S.P.B. The “Argus” had already commented on the oil on the beaches and wharves of Australia, and the hon. secretary of the Federal Council in a vigorous letter urges that the Federal Government should deal with a question “of importance in the preservation of seabird life, property, and human life. —Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.