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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — At least 15 oiled seabirds have been spotted after Newfoundland’s largest-ever offshore oil spill, but a biologist says past spills indicate the number could be in the thousands. Husky Energy reported the sightings on Wednesday and confirmed one dead bird since an estimated 250,000 litres of oil spilled into the ocean on Friday during an intense storm. The SeaRose platform was attempting to restart production when there was an equipment failure in a subsea line that released the oil. Experts on seabirds say an estimate on the number of birds killed from oiling could be months in the making, but is likely to grow. Gail Fraser, a leading seabird biologist at York University, said even a small number of oiled bird sightings are cause for concern and are likely a sign of much wider harm. "The fact that they have found oiled birds means that there’s probably a lot more oiled birds out there," Fraser said. Prior oil spills have ended up with estimates of bird deaths that have grown into the thousands, she said. The 2004 Terra Nova spill that released 165,000 litres of oil into the ocean is estimated to have killed around […]
