Here we go... finally a little info about the "lesser" animals that were
involved in the oil spill.
 
Sarah
 
 
 
 
Crabbers Hit by Oregon Oil Spill
 
.c The Associated Press
 
 By JEFF BARNARD
 
COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) -- Though the decision to burn a grounded cargo ship kept
thousands of gallons of oil off ocean beaches, oyster growers are angry that
even the little oil flowing toward sheltered tidal flats threatens $10 million
worth of shellfish.
 
``This is prime oyster growing ground,'' said Lilli Clausen, who with her
husband, Max, has been growing oysters in Coos Bay since 1980 and ships them
around the world. ``Whoever made the oil spill response didn't consider
oysters.''
 
Tarballs and a light sheen of oil from the grounded cargo ship have flowed
about five miles into Coos Bay, prompting the state's agriculture department
on Friday to shut down harvests at the four oyster farms there.
 
Officials will test to see if the shellfish have been contaminated.
 
``My opinion is that with the light amount of oil coming, in they will
survive,'' said John Johnson, shellfish biologist with the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife.
 
Recreational shellfishing has also been banned in the area and crab fishermen
have been unable to pull pots in an area around the grounded ship closed to
the public.
 
``We just don't want to take any risk of oiled shellfish getting out to the
public,'' said Deb Cannon of the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
 
The spill came just as oyster farmers were preparing to set out new oysters
for the next generation. Clausen lets her oysters grow three years before
harvesting them.
 
The 639-foot Japanese-owned cargo ship New Carissa ran aground on the beach a
mile north of the entrance to Coos Bay on Feb. 4 and last Monday began leaking
oil from its fuel tanks.
 
Faced with the threat of the ship breaking up in stormy weather and spilling
nearly 400,000 gallons of tarlike bunker fuel oil on southern Oregon beaches,
authorities came up with a bold plan to crack open the ship's fuel tanks with
explosives and set the fuel on fire with napalm.
 
With a fiery explosion Thursday night, the fuel was ignited and during the
blaze the ship broke apart, spilling more oil. Authorities have estimated at
least two-thirds of the fuel has burned.
 
The ship fire, which was briefly reignited Saturday after burning out
overnight, was out again Saturday afternoon.
 
Less than 10 percent of the fuel is believed to have leaked out since cracks
developed in the fuel tanks Monday.
 
So far, 25 dead birds have been recovered, 11 of them oiled.