Yahoo News 26 Jan 09;
MOSCOW (AFP) – A fuel oil spill off Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin has killed hundreds of birds in a wildlife area of international importance, Russian news agencies reported Monday.
"Hundreds of birds have been killed, including ducks, guillemots and divers," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted the head of the Sakhalin diving centre Vladimir Bardin as saying.
"The shore is covered for three kilometres (two miles) with birds stuck in the fuel oil. The local population are trying to rescue the birds that are still alive and wash them," he said.
He added there was a risk that the stricken birds could attract the rare Steller's Sea Eagle -- one of the island's foremost wildlife attractions -- which could choke and die if it attempts to eat them.
The spill in Aniva Bay on the south of Sakhalin took place six kilometres from a major liquified natural gas (LNG) plant being built by the international consortium exploiting its Sakhalin-2 reserves.
Bardin said the spill was linked to the arrival of an oil tanker at the LNG plant on Sunday and said this was proved from where the wind had blown the oil.
However, a spokesman for Sakhalin Energy, the operator of the project, said that "there had not been a single incident connected with the spill of oil products into the Aniva Bay," RIA Novosti reported.
Russia's Gazprom is a majority shareholder in the consortium developing the Sakhalin-2 reserves, with British-Dutch energy major Shell and Japanese conglomerates Mitsui and Mitsubishi Corporation the minority partners.
The news agency also quoted prosecutors as saying that their investigators had been on the scene to take samples and investigate what had caused the death of the birds.
Sakhalin Energy has vowed to abide by environmentally friendly principles in exploiting the energy reserves of Sakhalin, which is known for its vast populations of bears, salmon and seabirds and also some whales.
