OOILED WWILDLIFE RRESPONSE NNEWSLETTER New Zealand Wildlife Health Centre Issue 6, September 2010

The ‘Oiled Wildlife Response (OWR) Newsletter’ will be circulated every 3 - 4 months by the New Zealand Wildlife Health Centre (NZWHC), Massey University. Lynn Adams

We intend that these newsletters will serve to keep Chatham Islands Oiled Wildlife Responders up to date with events and Wildlife Expert news about oiled wildlife response both in New Zealand and abroad. Contributions for the newsletter are welcome and can be made to Helen McConnell

([email protected]). Lynn currently works in DOC’s Wellington Hawkes For previous issues visit: http://wildlife.massey.ac.nz/ Bay Conservancy Office as the ‘Fauna Technical Support Officer’, providing advice to conservation NATIONAL OILED WILDLIFE RESPONSE TEAM N O W R T groups on fauna issues, especially focused on recovery -INTRODUCTIONS- of birds and reptiles, and translocation. Lynn is not based on the Chatham’s but over the years has visited Each region has two designated NOWRT members a the islands to help with species conservation, and has a Regional Council Oiled Wildlife Response particular passion for parea, the rare Chatham Island Representative and a Regional Wildlife Expert. In this pigeon. While Lynn has knowledge of the islands edition we introduce OWR contacts in Chatham unique fauna, she also has an understanding of Islands, Canterbury, Auckland, Waikato and Taranaki. challenges of implementing a response on the Chatham This edition marks the first occasion when we can Islands and is greatly relieved that these issues are finally celebrate full NOWRT membership!! being included in response planning. Lynn’s ‘hands- on’ involvement in oil spill response is limited to rehabilitating a lone Fiordland crested penguin while Liz Tuanui living on the West Coast.

Chatham Islands OWR Rep. Mimouk Hannan

Environment Canterbury Liz is a farmer on the remote Chatham Islands and has OWR Rep. been involved in conservation for the last 25 years.

Being chairperson of the Chatham Island taiko trust she has had an active role in the transfer of three Mimouk has recently joined Environment Canterbury species of birds on to their south coast property; the as a Regional Park Ranger. In this role she focuses on critically endangered Chatham Island taiko, biodiversity, in particular braided river ecosystems and endangered Chatham Island petrel and recently the the birds that inhabit them. Before moving to Chatham Island Tui which at the time was the world’s Christchurch, Mimouk held a position as a Park first tui transfer. Ranger for Auckland Regional Council where her The Tuanui farm has six covenants, one predator free work had a strong conservation focus. This exclosure and seven private areas of protected bush. It background, along with past work in a veterinary is also home to the only breeding population of practice as a receptionist/vet nurse, will undoubtedly Chatham Island parea (wood pigeon) which has gone be beneficial for Mimouk as the Regional Council from 43 in the late 80’s to over 600 in 2009 due to OWR rep for Canterbury. predator control by the Tuanui’s and the Department of Conservation.

Rob Chappell Ian Surgenor Waikato Canterbury Wildlife Expert. Wildlife Expert

Rob has been involved in wildlife management for Ian first became involved with wildlife as a coastal over thirty years; starting with the NZ Wildlife Service ranger for Christchurch City Council in 1985. Initially as a ranger based around the Rotorua/Taupo District in the duties were mainly reactive but with a good team the 1970's. From here his career changed to focus on duties were expanded to include - environmental island management when he was appointed as the first education, track development, dune protection and permanent ranger stationed at Kawau Island under a planting, pest control, rural fire fighting and working Lands & Survey/Wildlife Service mandate. During this with the many stake holders of interest along the 25km time Rob worked on most of the islands in the Hauraki Christchurch coastline. After 23 years Ian decided it Gulf and as far afield as the Chatham Islands. was time for a change and took a field ranger position Following a hugely rewarding five year stint Rob with DOC in Kaikoura. Ian considers himself very moved to Coromandel Town where he manages the fortunate to be working in one of the best parts of NZ offshore islands of the outer Hauraki Gulf from the and is constantly reminded of this by the many visitors Aldermans to Cuvier Island for DOC. He has a wealth to Kaikoura who come to view the diversity of marine of wildlife experience over a wide range of seabird and life, the mountains and great walking tracks. marine mammal species. Outside of work Rob’s This picture is of an ocean sunfish which washed interests focus on classic motorcycle racing, diving ashore at Christchurch a few years ago. These fish and working on his partner’s farm. grow to exceed more than a tonne in weight, and this is a small example at only 530kg. Little is known of their habitat but they are considered a delicacy in some Asian countries. Jellyfish form a large part of their diet Janine Nilleson and they are rarely seen south of Cook Strait. Auckland Regional Council OWR Rep.

Bala Tikkisetty Janine is a park ranger at Ambury Regional Park, on the shores of the Manukau Harbour. Ambury Farm is Environment Waikato a centre for educational programmes, a working farm OWR Rep. and boasts a varied bird population. Due to Amburys

location and facilities Ambury has been identified as a perfect location to set up for an oiled wildlife Bala promotes "sustainable agriculture" by providing response. Janine enjoys a challenge and considers advice and facilitation services to landowners, farmers herself practical and hands on and enjoy working with and agricultural industry in the Waikato Region. Bala volunteers. Janine hopes she doesn’t get to utilise her coordinates the delivery of quality advice, educational skills in regard to setting up Ambury as a response site. events and information packages to rural landowners, and also provides facilitation services to help rural communities and landowners work together on environmental issues. Tony Habraken Bala's background is Agricultural and Environmental Science and prior to working for Environment Waikato Auckland he has worked for Environment Southland at Wildlife Expert Invercargill and Victoria University at Wellington. His background is, in addition to land & environmental management, sustainable agricultural & horticultural management systems. He holds a Bachelor of Tony has been involved with the NZ Agricultural Science (distinction) and also holds both Ornithological Society for over 30 years. He Post Graduate Diploma and Post Graduate Degree in currently co-ordinates the twice yearly census for Agricultural Science. the Firth of Thames and Manukau Harbour and is active in the banding programmes of various Taranaki as it expanded from a small local operation to wader species, Black-billed Gulls and the an international one. This resulted in his secondment to endangered New Zealand sub-species of Fairy Tern Wellington to work on a national basis monitoring and (he holds a DOC banding permit). approving industry standards as well as on-site visits to The study of wader migration and protection of new developments such as Liquigas and Methanex. In their habitat, is of particular interest to Tony. In 1982 he travelled to petrochemical operations in recent years he has visited China, South Korea Australia, Singapore, Britain, Netherlands and USA to and in 2009 was selected to be part of a ground compare their standards. breaking team visiting North Korea in search of Since retiring in 1993 Barry has been able to spend Red Knot and Bar-tailed Godwit, that were banded more time indulging in his interest in nature - in New Zealand and other parts of the East Asian including regular monitoring of sea and shore birds on Australasian Flyway. the Taranaki coast. Also regionally vulnerable in the Born and bred in South Auckland, Tony event of an oil spill are a range of rare coastal plant completed his studies with a Diploma of species some found nowhere else in the world. Horticulture at Lincoln University prior to working for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. He SPECIES IN THE SPOTTING SCOPE is now self-employed and lives on a rural block with his family and assorted animals which NEW ZEALAND FAIRY TERN: Tara-iti include a couple of thoroughbred horses – future Sternula nereis davisae champions of course!

Chris Spurdle

Taranaki Regional Council OWR Rep.

Chris has been working for the Taranaki Regional Council as a Policy Analyst on or off for the last 20 years. In that time he also spent two years in Photo: Katrina Hansen Queensland working for the Department of Natural Resources and Water and Biosecurity Queensland. The New Zealand fairy tern deserves special Currently, Chris’s responsibilities include providing recognition for the following reasons: policy support for the Council’s biodiversity and • It is perhaps the rarest sea bird species in New biosecurity programmes. Chris assisted in the Zealand with less than 50 individuals and only development of Taranaki’s first Tier 2 Oil Spill c. 10 breeding pairs, and Response Plan. Now back as part of the Oil Spill • It is the smallest tern breeding in NZ weighing Response Team, Chris looks forward to meeting and only 70 grams working with all the other OWR reps around the Historic records suggest that this species was once country. wide spread around the North Island and the east coast of the South Island. However they are now only found in Northland where breeding is limited to just four sites within close proximity – on the west coast: Barry Hartley Papakanui (which is on the South Head of Kaipara Harbour); and on the east coast: Pakiri, Mangawhai Taranaki Regional Council and Waipu estuaries. All breeding sites are within Wildlife Expert 60km of one another. During the non-breeding season fairy terns range From childhood Barry has had an ongoing interest in throughout the Kaipara Harbour, and spend some time nature; particularly birds and plants. at the east coast breeding sites. Occasionally they are In 1962 Barry became interested in diving and for 30 seen at sites further afield, for instance, Port Tauranga, years the sea and its inhabitants were a major focus. Maketu, and Manawatu/Foxton Estuary. Fairy terns In the mid 1970s as a professional fire officer, Barry feed on small fish in shallow estuaries and in the became involved with the petrochemical industry in shallow coastal zone. The nest of the fairy tern is simply a depression in the ANNUAL OWR COURSE sand amongst tide washed shells which act as anti- predator camouflage for aerial predators. The annual oiled wildlife response training course was Key threats to this species are habitat depletion and held in the picturesque surrounds of Wharerata disturbance (e.g. severe weather events and human Function Centre at Massey University on the 28th and activity) and predation. They are vulnerable to one off 29th of April. This course was attended by 17 members pollution events such as oil spills because of their of the National OWR Team. The advanced workshop extremely limited breeding distribution. topic this year was the ‘Marine VHF Radio Operators License’ and the additional topics were 1) Health & Safety during OWR and, 2) Responder Management during OWR. Two desk top exercises were also run with MNZ assistance as part of this training course. Feedback from the course was positive – and we look forward to hosting the remainder of the National Oiled Wildlife Response Team to the repeat course which will be held on the 27th and 28th April 2011.

Photo: Katrina Hansen

GULF OF MEXICO OILED WILDLIFE RESPONSE

No doubt you have all been following with interest the wildlife response efforts of those involved with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. For those of you who have been hibernating for the last few months the following synopsis may be useful: On 20 April the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig In addition to the annual course we also held a one-off exploded in the Gulf of Mexico killing eleven crew th members and sparking the world’s largest accidental ‘catch-up’ course on April 27 . The purpose of this marine oil spill. day was to provide basic training in the principles of An estimated total of 4.9 million barrels of crude oil OWR to those new to the NOWRT, or those who were released from the wellhead over the ensuing 86 could not attend training in the past two years. This days before it was finally capped successfully on 15 course was attended by 12 members of the National July. The volume of oil released was 18 times that OWR Team. We intend to revise the course material which was spilt during the famous 1989 Exxon Valdez presented during this day and incorporate it into a Spill in Alaska. series of online training opportunities in the 2010/2011 Not long after the spill began the New Zealand financial year – WATCH THIS SPACE!! Wildlife Health Centre offered assistance to TriState Bird Rescue & Research, International Bird Rescue HUMAN HEALTH RISKS FROM OIL Material prepared by Baukje Lenting, Massey University Research Centre and the Oiled Wildlife Care Network - three of the agencies involved with the oiled wildlife The key objective of any oiled wildlife response in response in the Gulf of Mexico. New Zealand will be to respond safely. To do so all To date our offers of help have not been needed, but as those involved in an oil spill response must be familiar the wildlife response effort continues we are still with the human health risks from oil exposure. Oil hopeful that some of our staff may be able to attend in products are generally a mixture of hundreds of the coming months to gain hands-on experience chemicals including: working alongside the most skilled and practiced oiled • Both volatile & saturated hydrocarbons wildlife responders on the planet! • Resins & asphaltenes For up-to-date statistics on wildlife affected by the • Non hydrocarbon fractions i.e. sulphur, nitrogen etc Gulf of Mexico spill to date we suggest you visit the • Heavy metals i.e. iron, nickel, copper, vanadium, following webpage: zinc, cadmium, lead, aluminium etc http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doctyp Three groups of compounds in crude oil adversely e/2931/55963 affect human health: 1) Volatile organic compounds (VOC) 2) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) A heavy metal is a member of an ill-defined subset of 3) Heavy metals elements that exhibit metallic properties. Many

In addition, there are short term direct toxic effects different definitions have been proposed based on from oil. density, atomic number, atomic weight, chemical properties or toxicity. Heavy metals are generally Volatile organic compounds highly toxic in the medium - long term because of This is a broad group of organic chemicals that tend accumulation in the body. Many heavy metals are towards the gaseous state at room temperature and carcinogenic, some interfere with hormone levels, pressure. They have a broad range of properties, some while others have their own specific toxic effects i.e. are toxic to humans and these are classified according lead, zinc, copper. to their toxicity. Examples of VOCs in “everyday life” include: methane (greenhouse gas), formaldehyde Direct toxicity effects (sick building syndrome), chlorofluorocarbons (ozone These effects include: damage). In the Prestige spill in Spain in 2002, the • Direct irritation from contact with eyes, mucous following were some of the VOCs present1: membranes, contact lenses, skin. • • Toluene, ethylbenzene, styrene – possible human Hypersensitivities carcinogens (Classified as group 2B – International • Oil spill workers and medics have described dermal Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)) and ocular irritations, headaches, nausea, fatigue, • Benzene – proven to have cytotoxic, haematotoxic, respiratory problems, throat irritation, lower back carcinogenic and immunotoxic effects (Group 1 – and leg pain and psychological disorders • These effects tend to be acute and temporary. IARC) In general, the effects of the oil on humans depends on Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons the kind of oil and its composition. Increased exposure PAHs are chemical compounds consisting of fused time increases the chance of carcinogenic, teratogenic aromatic rings. They are naturally present in petroleum and mutagenic effects. products and are also produced as by-products of fossil fuel burning. PAHs are carcinogens in humans and animals, and just like VOCs, these are classified by the IARC according to their toxic effect. For example ‘probable or possible’ carcinogens in the Prestige oil spill were: • benzo[a]anthracene, • benzo[a]pyrene, • dibenz[a,h]anthracene, • naphthalene, • benzo[b]fluoroanthene, • benzo[j]fluoroanthene,

• benzo[k]fluoroanthene. Recommendations for protection: Generally being careful, hygienic and minimising PAHs can also act as endocrine disruptors, while contact (both extent of exposure and duration of others are mutagens (substances capable of inducing exposure) is highly recommended. Personal Protection mutations) and teratogens (substances capable of Equipment (PPE) will be an integral part of any oiled causing birth defects). PAH toxicity depends loosely wildlife response including: on molecular weight where smaller weight chemicals • Eye and face protection, tend to cause more acute toxicity and larger weight • Hand protection (latex gloves do not protect against chemicals tend to be carcinogenic, mutagenic and/or hydrocarbons – nitrile gloves must be used!), teratogenic • Body protection • General skin protection, and • Respiratory protection (including the provision of well ventilated work places)

Full health and safety briefings will be given before you begin work during an oiled wildlife response, however the following general precautions should be The cytochrome P450 enzyme system in the liver of observed: most animals metabolises PAHs into excretable • Wash hands, arms, and face before eating and as metabolites. soon as possible following a work shift.

Heavy metals • No smoking in work areas • Pregnant and breast-feeding women should wildlife information was available to the planning completely avoid any exposure to hydrocarbon team quickly (Phil was pretty stoked to get this contamination during OWR. privilege!). Overall the exercise was a great opportunity for 1. Perez-Cadahia B, Lafuente A, Cabaleiro T, Pásaro E, Méndez J, Laffon B. 2007. Initial study on the effects of Prestige oil on Massey University and Horizons Regional Council to human health. Environment international 33 (2): 176-185 strengthen relationships and for wildlife personnel to become familiar with the Horizons remote east coast. The involvement of Jenny Whyte from DOC OBITUARY Masterton was particularly valuable during this Vivienne (Viv) Margo Lama (nee Hextall) exercise – Jenny highlighted the less obvious wildlife 6th September 1955 - 30th January 2010 assets on the coast: endangered katipo spiders and threatened skink species.

We are very sad to report that on 30th January Viv Lama passed away after losing a short battle against cancer; she was only 54 years of age. Viv was involved with oiled wildlife response before there was such a thing in New Zealand. With Rosalie Goldsworthy, Viv established the Eastern Bays Little

Blue Penguin Trust in Eastbourne, Wellington, during The Akitio Incident Command Centre the 1990’s, and from their homes rehabilitated 1000’s Photo: Horizons Regional Council of birds back to health. Viv was the first Tier 2 Wildlife Coordinator for the Greater Wellington Wildlife involvement in oil spill exercises: Regional Council when Oil Spill Response was in its Here at Massey, we strongly recommend that each infancy in New Zealand. regional council considers including a significant In 2002, the newly-wed Viv moved to Christchurch wildlife component in oil spill exercises from time to with her husband Pema, and built a new home there. time. As illustrated by the Horizons regional exercise Viv remained involved and brought her experience to above, there are wide ranging benefits from integrating bear in the Heathcote River spill in Christchurch. wildlife into the broader spill response structure Viv will be missed by all who have shared a nervous (operations, planning, admin & logistics) for all, cuppa in her Eastborne home as the Southerly storms facilitating a more realistic management scenario. rolled up Wellington Harbour and crashed onto her Please feel free to contact Kerri Morgan lounge windows; missed by all who enjoyed the ([email protected]) or Helen McConnell camaraderie of ‘Wine’O-Clock’ across the road at ([email protected]) for ideas on how Rosalie’s, or held a bird while she cleaned it. For those you too can incorporate a wildlife component into your who did not have the pleasure of meeting or working next oil spill exercise – we’re happy to help! with Viv; that is indeed unfortunate!

LOCAL NEWS IN BRIEF

Horizons Exercise On May 13, Kerri Morgan, Stuart Hunter, Helen McConnell, and Bill Dwyer joined the regional team of Carol Nicholson and Phil Battley to participate in a Tier 2 exercise run by the Horizons Regional Council at Akitio. The exercise revolved around the report of an offshore oil slick, the undertaking of appropriate immediate actions and the development of an Incident Action Plan. According to our preferred initial actions, the wildlife expert was able to join the reconnaissance flight by helicopter early in the piece, meaning that accurate Photo: Helen McConnell