Is an oil spill in the Gdańsk Bay possible?
A spill of hundred thousand litres of oil directly to the sea, contaminated Baltic and beaches of the Gdańsk Bay – such a scenario is possible because of the FRANKEN tanker shipwreck, located at the bottom of the Gdańsk Bay. Its tanks may contain 1.5 million litres of fuel. If this fuel leaks into the Baltic, Poland will be faced with an ecological disaster of an unprecedented scale. But we can prevent it! The MARE Foundation launched a campaign STOP OIL SPILL, SAVE THE BALTIC, which is aimed at preventing the spill of fuel into the Baltic. You can support the campaign by signing a petition at www.fundacjamare.pl.
A black oil spill on the beach in Gdańsk – this time it was not real oil, but a performance organised by the MARE Foundation to draw attention to the problem and to show that an oil spill from the tanker is a real threat not only to the environment but for us all, the inhabitants of coastal towns, tourists and local entrepreneurs. The information campaign STOP THE OIL SPILL. SAVE THE BALTIC lasted 2 months and is part of the project Reduction of the negative impact of oil spills from the Franken shipwreck, carried out by the MARE Foundation in cooperation with the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk. The main goal of the project is to reduce the possibility of an ecological disaster in the Gdansk Bay resulting from the potential oil spill from the Franken shipwreck. A big part of the project focused on a media campaign to raise awareness for the issue and to mobilise the political will to take over responsibility for securing the wreck. The cleaning of the shipwreck from oil requires substantial amount of money. It is therefore important to get every support possible from the society and from the decision makers says Olga Sarna from the MARE Foundation. We need to collect as many signatures as possible to suport the petition (the petition can be found at www.fundacjamare.pl). You can also find information on the wreck and the threat it poses, a video from the research expedition and underwater documentation filmed 70 m under water in 360 technology. Give us a LIKE and follow the MARE profile at Facebook www.facebook.com/fundacjamare/ and Instagram www.instagram.com/fundacjamare/. A clean Baltic sea is a matter of concern for all of us - adds Olga Sarna from the MARE Foundation.
The activities of the MARE Foundation are supported by well-known and popular Poles. Among the ambassadors of the campaign STOP THE OIL SPILL are Karolina Winkowska, the world champion in kitesurfing, composer and Tymon Tymański as well as the photographer Tomasz Stachura. All of them care about the Baltic and want to make all efforts to make it clean and healthy.
In April 1945, in the Gdańsk Bay, the Russian attack aircrafts sank a German logistic support ship FRANKEN. The giant, 179-metres long tanker contained 3 million litres of fuel, some of which has already leaked into the Baltic. Although Franken is not the only wreck in the Polish Baltic waters (according to the research data, there are approx. 20.000 identified underwater objects in this area), it is undoubtedly one of the most dangerous. The amount of transported fuel was so large that the German command decided to withdraw all its battleships from this area, under the fear of fuel shortage.
In April 2008, in the framework of the project Reduction of the negative impact of oil spills from the Franken shipwreck, an expedition was carried out to the wreck, using the research vessel of the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk and a vessel from divers centre. Photos from this expedition can be viewed at www.fundacjamare.pl. This was the first research expedition on a wreck in Polish waters, aimed at gathering all information needed to assess the scale of environmental threat and to undertake actions to clean the wreck and to prevent an ecological disaster.
The results of the expedition are not very optimistic says Benedykt Hac from the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk. The tanks onboard the ship can still contain 1.5 to even 5 million litres of fuel. The soil expertise made in the immediate vicinity of the tanker has proved a serious negative impact on the ecosystem. The limit values for several toxic and carcinogenic substances have been exceeded up to several hundred times. In addition, the progressive corrosion makes the steel covering the hull and the interior of the ship thinner and thinner, thus increasing the risk of the wreck collapse under its own weight - adds Benedykt Hac.
The collapse of the wreck will cause uncontrolled spill of fuel, oils and other substances, directly into the Gdańsk Bay. The spill will be a threat for the beaches located from 10 to 25 km from the wreck. The entire Gdańsk Bay may be contaminated, from Piaski to the Hel Peninsula. This would means a real disaster for the ecosystem, and the tourism-based economy. Contaminated water and closed beaches will mean a loss of income for thousands of inhabitants of the region.
We were able to discover a similar disaster to the Baltic ecosystem in 2009 when 300 to 600 tonnes of fuel had leaked from the Stuttgart shipwreck. The research conducted in 2009-2015 indicate that this spill had caused an ecological disaster in the Puck Bay. According to scientists, the mortality rate of the aquatic organisms in the contaminated area amounted to 100%, whereas the contaminated area in 6 years increased 15 times and amounts to 0.5 million square metres. Already this data is impressive enough, but this is only a fraction of what could happen after an oil spill from the Franken wreck.
Fortunately, it is not too late to save the Baltic from the fuel spill from Franken shipwreck! Together, we can save the Gdańsk Bay and stop the spill!
Save the Baltic! Sign a petition at Stop the oil leak - save the Gdańsk Bay (fundacjamare.pl)