Snowy Plovers and the New Carissa

In a 1999 winter storm off the Oregon coast, the New Carissa was carrying 425,000 gallons of fuel oil when waves grounded the vessel near Coos Bay. The crew of 23 were safely evacuated, but the storm continued to pound the ship and fuel started leaking. To reduce the potential environmental impact, a decision was made to burn the fuel rather than have it continue to leak. The heat of the fire split the vessel in two. Later the bow ws hauled out to sea only to have another storm break the tow line and the bow once again returned to the shore, this time near Waldport where it began leaking oil once again. Eventually, the bow was taken back out to sea and sunk in 10,000 feet of water by a US Navy torpedo. When the New Carissa grounded the first time, it was just off-shore from a nesting habitat of the Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus). The U.S. Coast Guard has estimated that about 265,000 liters (70,000 gallons) of oil were released into marine waters during the Coos Bay phase of the New Carissa incident. Additionally, they estimated that another 7,600 liters (2,000 gallons) were released into the marine environmental during the Waldport phase of the grounding event. Many species of birds, including the snowy plover, were soiled with oil as a result of the incident, and there were numerous mortalities. It is estimated that at least 40 to 50 snowy plovers were oiled during the incident, representing about 50 percent or more of the Oregon wintering population. One snowy plover was found dead with oil on it, and another two that had been seen during the incident with heavy oiling, were never seen again (1). The stern of the vessel was removed during 2008. (1) Draft Recovery Plan for the Pacific Coast Population of the Western Snowy Plover. US Fish & Wildlife Service