Did you hear that? Catherine Taylor the new Rena recovery manager said:
The Natural organisms will deal with a lot of the oil; the Limpets climb across the rocks and munch it up.
Well that statement flies in the face of all of the major scientific studies done into the effects of oil pollution on Limpet populations. Here's an excerpt from one such major study called The Effects of Natural Oil Seepage on Intertidal Communities (PDF):
Differences in limpet populations were shown to be statistically significant. Limpets have demonstrated 100% mortality rates when subjected to high concentrations of oil (Carthy 1968). Many studies have shown that upon the release of oil into the environment, limpets and other grazers are often the hardest hit (Newey and Seed 1995, Glegg et.al. 1999). There are also no known tolerances to oil in limpets (Glegg et.al. 1999).
Limpets cannot "munch" oil and Catherine Taylor is a moron for thinking they can. She also says that it's safe to eat shellfish, when there is still a toxin warning for most of the East coast.
Clearly it's her ineptitude that needs to be monitored.
