Birds soiled with oil were discovered in the town of Plougasnou, in Finistère.

The pollution still comes from the Tanio tanker, sunk in 1980. -

Mairie Plougasnou

  • Oiled birds and a dolphin were discovered on beaches in North Finistère.

  • The pollution would still come from the Tanio, an oil tanker flying the Malagasy flag sunk in March 1980.

  • However, filling work had been undertaken by the French Navy in September.

It sank on March 7, 1980, 50 km north of the island of Batz, in Finistère.

Eight members of his crew were killed and around 10,000 tonnes of oil spilled off the coast of Brittany.

Much less well known than the Erika or the Amoco Cadiz, the Tanio nevertheless continues to be talked about.

Forty years after its sinking, the wreck of the oil tanker flying the Madagascan flag was still spitting out pellets of heavy fuel oil in which many seabirds had died in the fall of 2019. We thought the nightmare had vanished after the intervention of the Navy in September to fill in the breaches of the wreck.

The discovery of several oiled birds and a dolphin in Plougasnou or Brignogan in recent days seems to say the opposite.

“It was walkers who alerted us.

The city's technical services also found soiled birds.

They are essentially Guillemots de Troïl ”, explains the mayor of Plougasnou Nathalie Bernard.

Sunday, a common dolphin was found dead near the port of the town.

He too bore traces of what looks like oil pollution.

Other birds have been discovered in the surrounding towns such as Brignogan.

“It is especially the western part of the town that seems affected.

I was told that the land of the abers was also affected, ”continues the mayor of Plougasnou.

Birds soiled with oil were discovered in the town of Plougasnou, in Finistère.

The pollution still comes from the Tanio tanker, sunk in 1980. - Mairie Plougasnou

The injured animals were turned over to the Bird Protection League.

Those who were dead will be autopsied at Océanopolis, in Brest.

Their feathers were sent to the Documentation Center for Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (CEDRE), also located in the city of Ponant.

It is his laboratory that will be responsible for determining the origin of the pollution.

But for his deputy director, there is little doubt, the pollution would probably come from the Tanio.

“In wrecks, there is always a material that cannot be pumped.

Oil being lighter than water, it nestles in inaccessible places and sometimes it rises to the surface, ”explains Nicolas Tamic.

Four birds had already been discovered between November 24 and December 2 in Goulven and Santec.

According to the Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic, the fuel oil presented "great similarities" with that of Tanio.

Have fishing gear torn gates?

The complex operation carried out by a robot at a depth of 90 meters in September would therefore have been useless?

“The mission of the French Navy was to place blanking plates on the hull valves which were damaged.

These valves had been drilled by the company Comex to extract the oil from the shipwreck.

With the corrosion, some had torn off.

We think it was fishing gear that did this, ”continues the CEDRE operations manager.

The hypothesis that another valve could have been torn off is for the moment privileged, even if the analyzes must confirm it.

“Tanio oil really has a special DNA.

It is very viscous, almost frozen so quite easy to identify ”.

Last year, CEDRE was able to state with certainty that the soiled birds were indeed the collateral victims of the Tanio.

These conclusions had prompted the Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic to organize a sealing mission, which was carried out in September.

If another had to be scheduled, it would probably be necessary to wait a few months, several weeks of relatively calm weather being necessary.

The maritime prefecture promises at first to send an ROV (an underwater robot) on site “in the coming days” to identify potential leaks.

“This wreck remains under surveillance”.

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