Seabirds 'at risk' from stuck lifeboat leaking fuel

Seabirds on a Welsh island could face "catastrophic consequences" after a lifeboat got stuck on rocks and started leaking fuel, a conservation group has said.

The boat came off a tanker called Midnight Glory as it attempted a safety drill near Skokholm Island, off the Pembrokeshire coast, on Sunday.

Lisa Morgan from Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales said it was now stuck and leaking fuel.

A spokesperson for the tanker’s owners said the company hoped to move the tanker by Friday.

Skokholm lies 2km (1.25 miles) off the coast of Pembrokeshire and is a haven for thousands of seabirds like puffins, guillemots and Manx shearwater.

HM Coastguard confirmed a report of a lifeboat being lost overboard last Sunday.

Lisa Morgan, head of islands and marine conservation for the trust, said the situation was "scary" with the vessel believed to be carrying 200 litres of fuel.

"It is breaking up, there are bits falling off it. We can smell the fuel and see it in the water - is a concern in a marine protected area."

She said there were also concerns over biosecurity, meaning, in this case, the potential for a predatory animal to be brought onto the island, via the lifeboat.

"All the seabirds breed in burrows underground and that’s why they live on Skomer and Skokholm islands.

"There are no predators there, so no rats or hedgehogs or foxes or anything like that.

"And that is incredibly important for these birds, they wouldn’t be able to breed on the mainland because there are rats and they would eat their eggs and go in their burrows and eat their chicks.

"What we don’t know is if anything is in that life raft. That’s our main concern.

"The risk that something could be introduced to that island which could have an absolutely catastrophic impact on our seabirds.”

Since Sunday, the trust has been on "high alert" on the island, meaning more trail cameras aiming to spot any unwelcome visitors and monitoring of stations, which hold chocolate-flavoured wax blocks to lure rodents.

Yesterday, a dog trained to detect rats visited Skokholm and found no traces of rodents on the island.

Lisa said even if that risk did not materialise, there were concerns about the impact of moving the lifeboat might have on the nesting seabirds above.

Pat Adamson, spokesperson for the tanker’s owners, Hong Kong Leasing Company, said it had been working with the authorities and weather permitting, the boat would be moved on Friday.

He added observations suggested any oil had washed away and that no rodents had been detected.