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A year on - Fate of leaky shipwreck lies on government desk

 

Julia Wade

RMS Niagara-41Nearly a year and a half after being highlighted through a compelling art exhibition, a potential environmental disaster still lurks on the bottom of a nearby seabed, surreptitiously leaking a harmful substance into local waters, while reports of required actions linger in a government office.

In February 2018 renowned local artist Nicky Everett alerted locals and visitors to the plight and demise of the ‘RMS Niagara’, WWII’s first maritime victim from an act of war in the Pacific, with her evocatively titled exhibit, ‘Gold & Oil - The Legacy and Menace of the Niagara’.

Sinking to a watery grave of 120 metres after colliding with a German mine in June 1940, the Niagara has rested on the seabed just north of the Mokohinau and Hen and Chicken Islands, for more than eight decades. Once laden with gold, the vessels rusting and decaying fuel tanks contain an undisclosed amount of oil, allegedly estimated to be three-four times more than the ‘Rena’ ship’s spill of 2011, New Zealand's worst marine environmental disaster.  

Everett’s solo exhibition gained national attention to the ‘catastrophe waiting to happen’, astonishing audiences with its confronting creativity and underlining crucial message, and triggering a response from government representatives including Conservation Minister the Honorable Eugenie Sage and advocate for government action regarding the Niagara, Waitemata and Gulf Ward Councillor, Mike Lee.

Everett and concerned locals also wrote to MPs and Maritime NZ Board to ask the government to monitor the wreck more regularly and work on options to safely remove the oil rather than rely on contingency plans.    

A year on, oil is still reportedly to be leaking, the potential for disaster remains, so what if any action has been done about the Niagara?

According to Maritime New Zealand’s [MNZ] Deputy Director of Safety and Response Systems, Nigel Clifford, the department, which has the primary responsibility for responding to major marine oil spills, has been working on developing options regarding the shipwreck, collaborating closely with the Department of Conservation as well as contacting maritime specialist consultants, environmental scientists and experienced parties in the United Kingdom, who deal with marine oil spills from shipwrecks. 

However due to MNZ not actually receiving reports of oil slicks for several years, the department ‘had not visited the site for some time’.

“In general Maritime NZ undertakes monitoring of marine oil spills as and when they are reported,” he says. “We have looked at the vessel tracking information in the Niagara area and there are several hundred tracks crossing over or very close to the wreck site every year. This gives us confidence that any significant oil on the surface would be quickly reported to us.”

In April this year an independent third party led by Keith Gordon, author of ‘Deep Water Gold’, a book telling the complete story of the Niagara, did advise MNZ of seeing oil on the surface in the area of the sunken ship while the group was conducting a ‘limited underwater survey’ of the wreck site.  

“Following this report we undertook three visits to the area including by surface vessel, by air and using a drone to survey the reported leak,” Clifford says. “We found that a very small amount of oil was coming to the surface in the area of the wreck and forming a very thin sheen on the top of the water as it rapidly dispersed naturally. The technical assessment was that there was no need to mount any response activity; the oil was breaking up naturally and the amounts were far too small to be able to be collected by mechanical means.”  

Keith Gordon and his crew visited the Niagara site to attempt to take underwater footage of the vessel via a small Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), and met with MNZ in Wellington to brief the department of their work. 

“The meeting was very useful to us but unfortunately we understand that it was not possible to get a detailed update on the condition of the wreck… as the survey results were severely hampered by poor weather and limited visibility.”

In March last year, MNZ provided a detailed report to the Ministry of Transport, recommending that an underwater survey and environmental appraisal will be required, to develop a formal risk assessment of the shipwrecks precarious situation. 
After making enquiries regarding an update on the fate of the Niagara, the office of the Associate Transport Minister, Julie Anne Genter, replied stating that the government’s consideration of advice provided by MNZ regarding the management of the shipwreck is ongoing. 

‘In the interim, the government’s expectation is that Maritime New Zealand will continue to consider potential options, and to respond appropriately to any reports related to the wreck.’
 
Photo:  [credit Ian Skipworth]
1: A slick of oil floating on the surface above the doomed Niagara, a possible warning of trouble brewing in the depths. Author of ‘Deep Water Gold’ Keith Gordon has previously stated ‘unfortunately it’s actually not a matter of ‘if’ the oil spills but more likely ‘when’’.     

 



 
    




 

 
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