Impacts of the Rena oil spill on New Zealand seabirds

The container ship C.V. Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef 22 km off the Tauranga coast (Bay of Plenty, New Zealand) on 5 October 2011. The resulting spill of c.350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil over the following 6 weeks caused the largest oiled wildlife incident in New Zealand history, and triggered a large and complex oiled wildlife response (managed by the Massey University veterinary team and Maritime New Zealand). We summarise information obtained from over 2000 dead birds handled following the Rena oil spill.

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