Olieslachtoffers in het Waddendistrict januari februari 1987

As a result of a small oilspill by a fishing vessel, probably from the village of Urk, in the western part of the Dutch Wadden Sea in the beginning of January 1987 rather large numbers of birds became oiled. The registration of the impact on the birds was severely hampered by extremely cold weather. Frost and snow made the usual coverage of the beaches and the dikes searching for corpses in many cases virtually impossible. However, when the ice-cover melted during February, a more complete coverage could be obtained, Data from recovery-centres were used as well. Table 1 shows the total numbers of birds found dead or alive. Evidently Eiders suffered the gravest losses; more then 5000 birds were found oiled. Unlike the previous oil disaster in the Wadden Sea area in 1969, when oil came in from the North Sea. Common Scoters were not found in significant numbers. This was probably due to the origin of the oil spill. The incidence of oil-fouling in waders and geese, species normally little affected, suggests that the oil had penetrated the tidal mud flats as well. This incident has once again demonstrated the great vulnerability of the Wadden Sea area for oil spills. Especially Eiders, which winter here in great numbers, may suffer heavy losses.