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Crown State Beach in Alameda closed due to oil spill
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Good morning Alameda
Police tape, closure signs, and haz-mat wrapped bird rescue teams line Crown Memorial State Beach in Alameda today instead of the usual Sunday visitors.
Local news media report that the oil tanker Dubai Star, anchored off the east side of the Bay near San Francisco, spilled between 400 and 800 gallons of bunker fuel on Friday. The oil found its way in sticky globs onto the 2.5-mile Alameda shoreline mid-day yesterday.
Coast Guard officials report that they have deployed containment booms around the spill area, and are in the process of scooping the oil off the Bay’s surface, but the evidence of its spread is washing up on shore in this town famous for its beach, birdlife, and bayside recreation opportunities. Locally, protective booms are clearly stretched out in front of the Crab Cove Marine Protected Area and from the beginning of Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary to the south, fully across the San Leandro Channel between Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island.
With the rising tide Sunday morning, the oily globs were once again floating on the surface of the water. Some wet globs remained scattered up the sand from the highest tide points the night before.
California Department of Fish and Game and Oiled Wildlife Care Network personnel, wrapped to the necks in protective clothing were heading out for the morning to collect birds affected by the spill. Department representatives advised that approximately nine teams of two persons each were covering the beach and were supported by boat teams searching for birds still out in the water.
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Oil globs on the beach, Sunday, November 1, 2009
They described the previous day of finding Grebes and Coots which were little more than oily blobs with beaks and webbed feet sticking out. The oily coating robs the birds' feathers of its waterproofing and insulating qualities. The waterlogged birds can literally drown, although the more common effect is for them to become cold from the loss of insulation and lose their normal feeding and watering habits.
At a mid-afternoon press converence today (Sunday, Nov 1) the Coast Guard stated that up to the end of collection Saturday, 30 oily birds have been collected for recuperation and cleaning, and 10 birds have been found dead.
The still living birds found on Crown Beach during the past 24-hours were primarily dehydrated and undernourished. Fish and Game officials report that they will spend a day or two addressing these issues, strengthening the birds’ conditions, before any attempt is made to actually wash the birds and return them to the wild.
A Department representative reported that the beach was currently closed in order to allow a safe stranding location for the birds to come in from the water, as well as to avoid public contact with oil on the beach itself. They expected a 5-day to two-week closure as the timeline of stranding birds is still being determined.
In discussion with a Fish and Game team this morning, it appears that Pelicans have for the most part avoided oily contact up to this point. A pigeon with an oily backside wandered along the sand past our conversation. No word yet on the fate of the beach’s beloved sandpipers, or on the effect of the spill on the bayside Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary just south of the beach.
Robert Crown Memorial State Beach is operated by the East Bay Regional Parks District. The public is asked not to approach or try to help any stranded wildlife at this time, but to report them to the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at (877) 823-6926.
For more info: Please read this morning’s SF Gate article. Please see the California State Parks’ and the East Bay Regional Parks’ pages on Crown Memorial Beach. For more information on California State Parks in and around the Bay Area, please visit here.
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