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[narrator] From the shoreline, to boat docks, cleanup
is underway after a barge that was carrying oil was struck by another ship spilling approximately
168,000 gallons of oil into the Houston Ship Channel.
((waves & birds))
[narrator] For the coast and the birds that rely on it,
the spill couldn’t have come at a worse time.
[Andy Tirpak. Ecosystem Resources Assessment Team, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department]
This time of year is particularly of concern to us because it’s the spring migration,
we’ve got a lot of migratory shore birds moving through. In essence we’ve got oil
on the beach where birds are coming through to rest, to feed, as they continue their migration.
So it’s challenging right now. Looks like a scaup. It’s pretty heavily
oiled. You can see how you can hardly see feathers right there, looks like it’s been
painted on, like wax.
[narrator] From fallen terns, to oil slicked loons, injured
birds are being found all along the coastline.
[A.J. Vale, Biologist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service]
It’s just tough seeing the birds all oiled and struggling. They’re trying to clean
themselves and they ingest the oil and it must make them really sick.
[narrator] It’s a race now to save the injured birds
and work to clean up this crucial ecosystem.
[Andy Tirpak] It’s all interconnected, it’s all about
that circle of life that we talk about. It’s not just that we are going to try to save
the birds, if we try to save the birds that’s great, that’s good. But we also need to
be worried impacts to the sand and the things that live in the sand that the birds are feeding
upon.
[narrator] Scientists say it could be some time before
the full spill impact is known. Meantime the focus is on cleanup and saving fish and wildlife
where they can.