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There are only five of our
team members still here now so despite
there being less birds there has
been a great deal of work to share
out between a small number of people,
hence the lack of reports from the
field!
As it stands today we
have 23 birds here at the center.
We have been releasing eider ducks
every other day for the past week
and this afternoon 11 birds left
the center, our biggest single release
so far. We had agreed that this
would be our best chance to re-ignite
interest in the media and also to
invite local volunteers and sponsors
along to see the end result of all
their hard work.
The turnout from the
media was excellent. All three Norwegian
television stations were represented
as well as the national radio station,
and a number of our team were interviewed.
We are hopeful that
quite a few of the remaining birds
will be ready for release in the
next day or two. We will also be
carefully re-assessing the records
and condition of the others. Some
of the birds have been here for
a few weeks now and are either not
showing signs of improvement or
have additional problems. If these
animals will not fully recover and
be able to thrive again in the wild
then euthanasia will be the most
humane solution for them now.
There is always only
a small window of opportunity for
oiled wildlife and here in Norway
the lack of preparedness for this
kind of response slowed down our
efforts at the start. Many of the
birds were recovered after more
than a week of being oiled and were
severely debilitated. This makes
it much more difficult to rehabilitate
them successfully.
Visit by the authorities
On Tuesday a meeting
took place in Bergen between the
various governmental agencies responsible
for wildlife and spill response
to discuss the Rocknes incident.
Arnold Haaland from NNI had invited
them to visit our operation but
we had not received a response.
We were therefore taken
by surprise when 7 people arrived
at the center on Tuesday afternoon
asking for a tour of the facilities.
The group included representatives
from the County GovernorÕs office,
the Nature Directorate and the Coastguard.
They stayed with us
for an hour and were given a thorough
tour and explanation of the process
for rehabilitating oiled wildlife.
We were able to talk about the importance
of preparedness and also about the
importance of developing the skills
and experience to respond to larger
potential incidents in the future,
including those that may have a
significant conservation value where
red-listed species such as Stellars
Eiders may be involved.
They all seemed very
interested in the work and, while
convincing the authorities to change
the policy on oiled wildlife will
be a much longer process, we were
delighted that they took advantage
of the opportunity to see how this
operation has been put together
and to see clean, healthy, waterproof
birds in the pools.
Parliamentary question
Following discussions
with one of the volunteers about
the importance of contingency planning
and preparedness, the volunteer
decided to make contact with his
local MP to ask if they could table
a parliamentary question to the
Fisheries Minister on behalf of
the operation.
The question was raised
in parliament on Tuesday by Audun
Bjorlo Lysbakken from the Socialist
Left Party. The following is the
text as retrieved from the official
website:
ÒWhat is the MinisterÕs view on
initiatives like ÔAksjon Rein Fugl
(Action Clean Bird)Õ, and what is
the DepartmentÕs (Fisheries) view
on public funding for such actions/work,
or permanent initiatives that will
make such responses a permanent
part of oil contingency ns/stores
already in place in coastal areas?Ó
Background:
At Horsoy, on Askoy,
Hordaland, a center for oiled seabirds
from the Rocknes spill has been
established. The project is called
ÔAksjon Rein Fugl,Õ and has dealt
with over 100 oiled birds. The birds
are rehabilitated and cleaned for
oil. The work is done by volunteers
from Bergen and surrounding areas
in cooperation with an international
group (IFAW). The instigators believe
this work (and rehabilitation of
oiled seabirds) should be an important
part of any contingency planning
in case of oil spills along the
coast. This action is financed by
IFAW and volunteers.
De-mobilizing
We should be releasing
birds on Saturday and Sunday and
also beginning to pack up much of
our equipment. We have procured
a great deal more during this spill
that will need to be stored for
future use. Thankfully, Oil Spill
Response Limited (OSRL), an international
spill response organization based
in Southampton in the UK, have agreed
to store this for us, which will
be a tremendous help and will greatly
improve our own preparedness. Once
this equipment is safely on its
way, we will be too.
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