Scientists and environment officials are keeping a close watch on some killer whales following an oil spill which has occurred about 800 metres from the ecological reserve at Robson Bight, Vancouver Island. The sheltered waters along Vancouver Island's northeast coast are amongst the best places in the world to view orcas in their natural surroundings. The area is an ecological reserve and off-limits to boat or human traffic.

A barge was travelling when it dropped its load, spilling the diesel fuel - now estimated to have spread up to eight kilometers. The load also included logging equipment, a pickup truck, bulldozer, an ambulance, a bus and the fuel tanker truck with its capacity of 10,000 litres of diesel. Everything sunk to the ocean floor so as well as cormorants and ducks, some of the fish that the killer whales feed on - salmon, herring and sardines could also be affected by the slick.

Pods of killer whales come to this area of Johnstone Strait each summer to rub themselves on the barnacle-encrusted rocks, pebbles and gravel seafloor. Scientists haven't yet figured out why the whales seem to prefer the pebbly beaches of Robson's Bight over other areas, but it is one of the only places on Vancouver Island where they return on a regular basis. A Regional Environmental Emergency Team, involving coast guard, Environment Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will coordinate the cleanup. The marine portion of Robson Bight Ecological Reserve was established in 1982 in recognition of the importance of this area to killer whales.

Update 25 August 2007

While wildlife crews continue to monitor the barge a pivotal question remains - where was it when it spilled? The Coast Guard are still trying to determine where the barge was as although it looks like it was outside of the ecological area it didn’t have a license to be in that area. Further questions must be answered.

Officials say there's no evidence that the spill has caused any damage or harmed the killer whales but time will tell. The whales have been seen swimming through the fuel slick but observers have not noticed any changes in their behaviour and there is no evidence yet of diesel residue on the shoreline.

Update 29 August 2007

The company responsible for the accident - LeRoy Trucking are apparantly not paying for the entire clean up of Robson Bight, instead locals are having to fundraise to conduct a deep sea dive in Robson Bight which is planned shortly. Sidescan sonar will be used to pinpoint the exact location of logging equipment which fell to a depth of 350 metres inside the Michael Bigg Ecological Reserve. Amongst the submerged equipment is the fuel truck which may still contain 10,000 litres of diesel - it remains unclear how much fuel remains in the tank. Once the exact location of the equipment is known, a remotely operated camera will survey the damage, taking high resolution video. An overflight of the site was made recently and quarter-sized droplets of diesel fuel were spotted rising to the surface and evaporating, they are being released slowly at a rate of four an hour.

The Chief of the Namgis First Nation is upset with the way the incident has been handled, saying his community was shown a lack of respect by officials and would like to see a response team set up on the North Island to deal with future spills because response time was poor.

Image (c) J Dorsey