Oil spill in Mangaf, Kuwait (1 Viewer)

Remember when I said yesterday that there is Petroleum smell in the air?
Well, this morning I learned what it was.
I was wondering about a guy walking along the beach yesterday, bending down every few meters and checking things. You rarely see guys collecting shells, right?
He was most likely checking out the first 'pieces' of oil being swept onto the shore.
This morning when we went to the beach, I saw a bulldozer arriving and one car after another going to the beach.
Getting closer I saw workers in coveralls walking along the shore, digging the sand and throwing stuff in the water to soak up the oil - I guess.
Some guys in a Pickup stopped beside me and told me not to let the dogs in the water, because there's oil. But it's not a problem. Mh. Right.
I checked the beach past Mangaf, direction Fahaheel. The oil was slowly arriving there as well.
I can't find any news online and probably won't at all.
Was down there this afternoon again, the workers were sitting on the beach. An oil spill response vehicle was there, two boats out in the ocean, but no action.

http://nicoleb.org/b2/index.php/nature/first-casualties-1

In the photo above you see the first (?) casualty. I think it's the same Greater Sand Plover that already had the dark spot on his chest. Now he has dark oily spots around his beak and black oily legs.
Some white-cheeked Terns flew over, looking rather bedraggled than white.
One dead fish was washed ashore as well. No idea, if a casualty too or if he died of old age...
We will see how things will go here. I have confidence that the authorities know what they are doing, since they have enough experience.
We shall see.

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Just for Info - copied from my Blog
last update 10am August 2nd

Well, all I can say is that I hope it's a minor spill Nicole! Not that a minor spill isn't a disaster for the wildlife that encounters it, but the smaller it is, the better. Oh gosh, better isn't the right word is it, but you know what I mean...good luck!

Thanks, Rose.
I know what you mean & I think it's a minor one.

But how many minor ones make a big one,...?

I remember from 2007/08 how many times I smelled the Petroleum smell. Now it makes me wonder

Update:

http://nicoleb.org/b2/index.php/oil-spi … ay-1-and-2

It's a sad fact that wherever you get oil some silly bugger's going to spill it. I've always been surprised that there haven't been more mega-spills in the Gulf.

NicoleB said:

You rarely see guys collecting shells, right?

Click to expand...

As a malacologist I'm not quite sure how to take that Nichole
Chris

There was a pretty big one last year in Spring. Has anyone heard of it? I doubt it.
Then in late summer a big sewer dam (?) broke and until they fixed it (2 months later) the sewage (raw) went into the ocean....

I guess everyone hear is just waiting for a big one to happen

Well, I don't think there are many of your 'species' around, so, no offense

Update from August 8th:
http://nicoleb.org/b2/index.php/oil-spill-mangaf-kuwait-sunday-day-5

(one more from today will follow - it's not over yet )

It is sad to realize that most people here in Kuwait, even the ones living very close by have no clue that there is an oil spill at all.

At least they are trying to keep people from swimming now. How anyone can not see the oil film or smell the 'petroleum' is beyond me

And the 10Barrel spill that this supposedly was is most likely a leakage.
Rumor has it they patched it up and are now waiting for a foreign specialist to fix it.
Lovely.

At least they are still at the beaches (now at the one in Fahaheel too, but not the stretch between those two) and try to do some cleaning up.

Nothing past the first small and the two big articles in any newspaper or anything anywhere online.

So far I have at least not seen any bird casualties.
Dead sea 'shells' (snails? what do you call them, I dunno).

The birds are still flying past the coastline, but at least the Greater Sand Plover and the Kentish Plover that were guests for a while seem to have been smart enough to move somewhere else.
The Whimbrels are still there. I guess they might actually be nesting (?)

The ocean water is finally getting cleaner.
They still have the rescue team working at the Mangaf beach.
We shall see,....

Just an update on it all:

The spill got cleaned up much better than expected (thanks to one person's insistence and perseverance I would like to add).

Not only that, the beach in Mangaf got some Extra attention and got thoroughly cleaned up from old Debris and old concrete blocks, the sandy beach part (where some morons constantly got stuck with their cars, because it's so much fun to drive over the sand) is now totally closed for cars with big concrete blocks.
The work is continued by clearing old fences and cleaning up a tree area (leaving most of the healthy trees so far) to make a playground area.

A private initiative (supported by KNPC) cleaned up the beach with around 30 Volunteers.

And the whole mess resulted in the birth of: 'Keeping Kuwait Clean' and already the second, even more successful beach clean up in Mahboula with close to 60 Volunteers (and the support of K.O.C and KNPC) and the next beach clean up on it's way

Sometimes something bad can evolve into something good...

Since last night we have a leak of some sorts again near the coast here in Mangaf.
One of the guards at a sea coast residence told me it's a Petrol leak (?)
There's a haze in the air, but no smell.

Does it ever get better here or only worse?

Update to the latest environment news:

The smell of petroleum came for about 1 hour later that morning (Jan 25th)

I have been in the city yesterday, so no update for that day.

Today I've been in Fahaheel early in the morning.
It was hazy again, but this time from humidity and all over.

At the beach, close to the water though were oil stains in the top layer of the sand at the highest tide line.
The sand feels oily all over and close to a shore is a choking petroleum smell in the air.

The smell was gone this morning, the light oils stains are still there though.

On a positive Note: I either have missed some winter guests in our area, or migration has started