Oil Leak in New Zea-land

By: Nana

What happened?

On October 5th 2011, the Rena, a cargo ship from New Zealand, crashed near the Bay of Plenty reef, in the north is-land port of Tauranga which is one of the top tourist destinations in New Zealand.

Where did this happen?

Some extra info…

• The oil slick stretched out until 5km. People believe that 10tons had leaked from the ship. It was carrying 47, 000 tons of heavy fuel including 11 containers of hazardous materials. If it continues to break up it could re-lease 1700 tons.

• You can watch this video for more in-formation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6J6I6TVqA

As of this week, the captain of the ship has already been charged and the people are still trying to clean the beaches affected by it.

What are the effects?

• The marine life at sea is endangered including corals reefs, sea beds and other areas.

This oil slick is…• Damaging the immune system of birds

and other animals• Interrupting the breeding season of

fishes.

How does it affect us?

• If the oil spills, there will be no fish-ing and hunting grounds will be con-taminated.

• There are long term effects on hu-man beings as we can get poisoned from contaminated marine animals.

Why did I choose this topic?

• I chose this topic because I care about the environment and the ani-mals.

• This piece of news caught my atten-tion

• I thought we could take a part in helping the people in News Zealand to clean the oil out.

Sources• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15268314• http://www.crsociety.net/images/8-4.jpg• http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/09/new-zealand-oil-spill-rena• http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/164/Effects-of-oil-spills.html• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15226442• http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/mambots/content/multithumb/thumbs/316.0.1.0.16777215.0.stor

ies.large.2011.10.07.Penguin_Oil_Spill.jpg• http://lisasarsfield.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/bay-of-plenty.gif• http://www.travelindex.co.nz/map-images/maps/eastland.jpg• http://i.huffpost.com/gen/373135/thumbs/r-NEW-ZEALAND-OIL-SPILL-RENA-large570.jpg• http://www.maritimejournal.com/__data/assets/image/0005/681035/NZ-oil-spill-Master-charged.jpg• http://www.oil-world-2011.com/wp-content/uploads/Bp-oil-spill-effects-1.jpg• http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/gallery/files/2011/10/3.gif• http://cdn.theconversation.edu.au/files/4292/width440/penguins.jpg• http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/25/article-0-0B567B6700000578-506_468x286.jpg • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/sci_environment/11/bp_spill_one_year_on/img/1-oil-covered-brow

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