THIS ARTICLE IS republished from The Dialog underneath a Inventive Commons license.
An oil tanker carrying jet gas was not too long ago hit by a cargo ship whereas at anchor 13 miles off the east coast of England. This set off a sequence of huge explosions and an enormous plume of black smoke, whereas a nonetheless unknown amount of jet gas has spilled into the ocean.
We’re marine ecologists on the College of Hull, the town nearest the incident. We all know this coast and these seas very effectively. Whereas it’s too early to say precisely what the results will probably be, we do know that this spill places in danger one in every of Britain’s most vital stretches of shoreline—each for conservation and for business fishing.
The collision occurred within the Holderness offshore marine protected space, a area of coarse sandy seabed that helps a lot of completely different species. These embody the ocean quahog, an edible clam identified to reside for over 500 years. The world additionally acts as a nursery for fish like lemon sole, plaice, and European sprat.
This space overlaps with these designated to guard harbor porpoises and the close by Humber Estuary and its mud flats, sand dunes, and marshes the place 1000’s of birds spend the winters alongside different vital species, akin to lampreys and grey seals.
The UK’s largest mainland breeding seabird colony is discovered simply north of the collision web site, alongside the Flamborough and Filey coast. Greater than 250,000 birds nest there yearly, together with spectacular numbers of guillemots and razorbills. It additionally hosts species of conservation concern like gannets, kittiwakes, and puffins.
To the south are different protected coastlines and an vital breeding web site for gray seals. The Wash, the place 4 rivers empty into the identical massive square-shaped estuary, is discovered 70 kilometers to the south, within the common route of drift from the tanker collision. The world has massive salt marshes and is one other vital web site for over-wintering birds.
