The vessel’s owner says an investigation will need to uncover the “mistake” that led to the accident.
The 25m Austro Carina, owned and operated by Lyttelton-based Pegasus Fishing Ltd, ran aground near picturesque Shell Bay on the southeastern side of the Banks Peninsula on Sunday night.
A helicopter recovered the skipper and three crew of the vessel, which was carrying 10,000L of diesel and 400L of hydraulic oil.
Regional council Environment Canterbury (ECan) says initial aerial observations show oil from the vessel was headed towards Shell Bay and the neighbouring bays.
The New Zealand Herald has this morning captured images that show the vessel marooned on rocks by a high cliff face.
Vessel owner, Tony Threadwell told the Herald it was obvious “somebody made a mistake”.
“We’re carrying out an internal inquiry as well - it’s like driving your car and you end up off the road,” he said.
“The crew are physically okay but a bit traumatised.”
He said the 45-year-old boat had no history of accidents.
The nationally vulnerable spotted shag also calls the bay home, along with seals and their pups.
An oil expert has questioned whether authorities have the expertise to protect the creatures’ homes from a “dose of diesel”.
Dougal Roberts, who has more than three decades of experience in the United States and Middle Eastern oil exploration, also lives at Banks Peninsula.
He claimed that New Zealand doesn’t have an oil spill response organisation “with any teeth”.
“You need somebody on that site working out if they can plug and empty the diesel and hydraulic fuel tanks - people experienced in that,” said Roberts.
“What we see from Environment Canterbury and Maritime NZ doesn’t show that experience.”
ECan has told NZME that 30 trained responders have taken control of the spill.
The council plans to “safely minimise the impact of an incident of this nature on the environment”, a spokesperson said.
Roberts said the peninsula was expecting southerly winds today, which would push diesel and oil into the bay.
He said the public has been given little information on the extent of the spill.
“This is our response to oil spills and I think we’re going to be disappointed. I’d like not to be - but we’ve got ten thousand litres of diesel and if they recover one hundred of it, I’d be surprised.”
Shell Bay is a tier-two spill under Maritime NZ’s three-tier system. Within 12 nautical miles of the coast and expected to cost less than $250,000 to clean up, it requires a regional council response.
