Veterinarian Dave Jessup had barely opened his oil wildlife treatment center in the winter of 1997 when an unusual number of oiled birds began appearing in Point Reyes. Covered in a thick, black petroleum-smelling oil, most were too sick to be saved.
Terrified, hypothermic and sickened from the toxic oil, most of the 900 birds Jessup and his staff tried to save that winter died. The next winter, another 900 birds washed up on the beaches of Point Reyes. Nobody understood where the oil was coming from — the beachesthemselves were clean, and there were no known oil spills off the coast of California. Biologists tried to match the oil samples to known petroleum plants but came up empty-handed. The oil was different from refined gasoline or traditional crude.
To make things even more confusing, the spills would only occur in the winter. Pockets of oil would appear seemingly out of nowhere and vanish in the storms.
They became known as the “mystery spills.” Between 1973, when the first oiled birds were collected by the public, and the winter of 2002, when the oil spills were finally matched to a source, more than 51,000 dead birds washed up on beaches from Bodega Bay to Monterey Bay.
Last week, the California Department of Fish and Game announced a $20 million restoration initiative aimed at protecting and renewing nesting grounds the birds traditionally rely on.
More than 50 different species were impacted by the oil spills. The greatest number were Common Murres, Rhinoceros Auklets and Western Grebes. Many were threatened or endangered species, such as the Western Snowy Plover, Brown Pelican and sea otter.
The restoration projects will target 13 different nesting habitats from Alaska to Baja. Four of the projects are in San Mateo County, at such places as Ao Nuevo Island and the cliffs of Devil’s Slide.
Funding will come from the federal Oils Spill Liability Trust Fund, created by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 in the wake of the Exxon Valdz oil spill.
Jessup, whose Santa Cruz veterinary practice is part of the Department of Fish and Game’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response, said he was relieved when the “mystery spills” were finally solved in 2001.
“Each spill appeared to be a new spill. In retrospect, they weren’t. We didn’t connect the dots until the Luckenbach was discovered,” he said.
State officials used old-fashioned detective work and sophisticated technology to match oil samples to the S.S. Jacob Luckenbach, a freighter that collided with another vessel in 1953 and sank in the Gulf of the Farallones, 17 miles off the coast of Half Moon Bay.
The Luckenbach had just left the port of San Francisco on a trip to South Korea, carrying more than
400,000 gallons of engine oil with it when it sank.
Although the freighter was largely forgotten in the intervening years, winter swells continued to stir it up and release the engine oil along the birds’ flyways.
In the summer of 2002, the U.S. Coast Guard removed 100,000 gallons from the Luckenbach.
“We’ve had maybe two dozen birds in here since,” said Jessup.
Department of Fish and Game spokesman Steve Hampton said the agency’s damage assessment had taken several years to complete. Following a public comment period that ends on April 14, Hampton said he hopes the projects could begin in early 2007.
One of the largest projects is a 20-year initiative to protect Common Murre nesting colonies off the California coast from boats, airplanes, helicopters and other disturbances that cause the birds to leave their nests in fear and not return, exposing their eggs to ravens and other predators. State agencies will educate pilots, boaters and others about the birds’ locations, which include the rocky cliffs of Devil’s Slide and the Farallon Islands.
In another project, nonprofit workers will work to boost the Rhinoceros Auklet population on Ao Nuevo Island by restoring the eroding topsoil and planting native plants so the birds have enough dirt to burrow in and lay their eggs.
A public hearing on the restoration plan is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 14, in the Prince Room of the Presidio Golden Gate Club, 135 Fisher Loop, in San Francisco.
Comments before April 14 can be sent to Steve Hampton at the California Department of Fish and Game, Office of Spill Prevention and Response, 1700 K Street, Sacramento, CA 95814; comments may also be faxed to (916) 324-9929 or e-mailed to shampton@ospr.dfg.ca.gov.
Copies of the restoration plan are available by request or can be downloaded by visiting http://www.dfg.ca.gov/ospr/index.html.
Staff writer Julia Scott covers the coast and the environment. She can be reached at 348-4340 or at jscott@sanmateocountytimes.com.
