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FISHERMEN in the Tauranga area of New Zealand are anxiously watching the effects of an oil spill from a stranded container ship which ran aground on a reef in the area a week ago.
Several hundred tons of oil have already spilled from the MV Rena and cracks are appearing in the Hull. To add to problems over 90 containers, some containing hazardous substances, have fallen from the ship.The Rena's captain and second officer have been charged over the incident.
But the Liberian registered ship stranded near an important fishing area and it is the effect on fish and other marine life that it is worrying local people the most.
Local fishing vessel owner Marcus Rawlinson said: "We do a lot of fishing in the area. The oil is bad enough, now we have the problem of the containers. He feared his boats might have to move to another area.
Another local fishermen Brian Kiddie told a New Zealand breakfast TV programme that the main Bay of Plenty cray fishery lay in the exclusion zone and bottom trawlers, surface line and blue nose fishers "pass the reef just about daily".
He added: "Fishermen have concerns that containers may be drifting about and Kiddie said the industry will be dealing with the disaster well into the future, long after the beaches are clean." The area is also known for its long, sandy beaches and abundant wildlife, including penguins, seals, dolphins and rare sea birds.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce, who has been overseeing the oil spill response, has denied New Zealand's "brand" had been irreparably damaged.
But Greenpeace has questioned what would happen with a much greater spill from a deep sea oil drilling mishap, for example . Steve Abel from Greenpeace said New Zealand was vulnerable to this sort of incident, adding that area of coast provided a valuable food supply through fish on which the local economy depended.
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