2010 Shen Neng Oil Spill
When the Chinese coal carrier, Shen Neng 1, was grounded off the central Queensland coast in April 2010, DERM played a key role in the national incident response to help contain the situation.
DERM’s role included providing environmental and scientific advice, rescue and rehabilitation of oiled wildlife but also extended to waste management, GIS support, shoreline assessment and liaison with traditional owners.
DERM assisted Maritime Safety Queensland with the clean-up on North West Island, and carried out inspections on Tryon, Broomfield, Wreck, Wilson and other islands as well as the mainland coastline from Facing Island north to Shoalwater Bay.
On Heron Island, an innovative approach was utilised to safeguard turtle hatchlings. Approximately five kilometres of gutter guard and 100 pots were used to fence the island foreshore to prevent hatchlings getting into the oiled water which would have killed them. This was never actually executed – systems of staff, equipment and planning were in place for this but it was not required nor put in place in the end.
As they made their way along the fencing, the hatchlings dropped into large pots dug into the beach at 50 metre intervals where they were safely contained until wildlife officers collected them. Not undertaken—but has been used as a part of marine research to turtle hatchlings prior to this event—hence know that it would have worked
In addition to shore work, DERM’s experienced divers were involved in inspecting the affected area and reef rangers helped the Marine Park Authority assess and rehabilitate the reef.
After the Shen Neng 1 was successfully refloated on 12 April 2010, DERM implemented strict environmental controls for the transfer of the ship’s 19,000 tonnes of coal to other bulk carriers for towage to China.
The DERM response to the pollution event spanned more than 8 weeks with more than 91 operational staff directly involved in helping to protect one of Queensland’s most beautiful and sensitive environmental areas.
The response operation was successful with only small amounts of oil lost to the environment and no known impact on wildlife.
Last updated 11 January 2012