November 24, 2004 For Immediate Release     Grand Banks Oil Spill Highlights Need to Strengthen Protection for Birds at Sea Oiled Thick-billed Murre, Cripple Cove near Cape Race, Newfoundland, November 28, 2004. The oil on this bird is of unknown origin (possibilities include illegally discharged ship bilge water, or the Terra Nova oil spill). Photo copyright Ian L. Jones. OTTAWA (November 26, 2004) – The largest oil spill to arise from Canada’s east coast offshore oil industry is spreading in area and threatening large numbers of seabirds. On Sunday morning, an estimated 165,000 litres of oil were released from Petro-Canada’s Terra Nova oil platform, forming a slick that by Thursday occupied an area of 57 square kilometres. The spill, 350 kilometres from St. John’s on the Grand Banks, is polluting an area that is of paramount importance at this time of year for migrating and wintering seabirds, such as dovekies, murres, kittiwakes, and shearwaters. A spill of this magnitude in this location and season could be devastating to seabirds: a biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service estimates that tens of thousands of seabirds are congregating in the area of the spill. Impacts on these birds will be extremely difficult to measure, as even a few drops of oil on a seabird can cause mortality, and the slick’s remote location means that most of the affected birds will die unobserved and uncounted. “This spill is just one more example of the need for better protection of our marine ecosystems,” notes Julie Gelfand, President of Nature Canada. Legislation is currently before Parliament designed to strengthen Canada’s conservation of migratory birds at sea by imposing stricter penalties on oil polluters. Passing this legislation, Bill C-15, is one important measure in achieving better marine protection for birds. But the federal government must further demonstrate how seriously it takes its mandate to protect migratory birds at sea. Imposing maximum fines for the Terra Nova oil spill is one step in this direction. Equally important is a strong commitment from the government to mitigate the impacts of future oil spills, or prevent spills from happening altogether — by means of independent observers on offshore platforms as well as significant investment in the government’s capacity for enforcement activities, and monitoring birds and oil pollution at sea. “This is also a time when the federal government is contemplating lifting a decades-old moratorium on offshore oil and gas activity in British Columbia — a moratorium that fully 75% of participants in a recent public review of the issue want maintained. This moratorium continues to protect BC’s diverse marine ecosystems and wildlife from just the sort of oil spill we saw this week off Newfoundland,“ comments Gelfand. —30— For more information, please contact: Julie Gelfand President 1-800-267-4088 ext. 250, cell (613) 858-5029 Sarah Wren Important Bird Areas Conservation Biologist 1-800-267-4088 ext. 300 Nature Canada is a member-based non-profit nature conservation organization dedicated to protecting nature, its diversity, and the processes that sustain it. Our supporters include over 40,000 individual supporters and 100 affiliated organizations, including local and provincial naturalist groups. Nature Canada and Bird Studies Canada are Canadian co-partners in BirdLife International, a global partnership of conservation organizations and research institutions that conserve birds, habitat and global biodiversity.