By Christine Kellett
Residents on the Sunshine Coast fear an algal bloom at the mouth of the Maroochy River may be the first sign that a missing cargo of fertiliser chemicals has begun to leak.
Thirty-one containers of ammonium nitrate fell overboard when Hong Kong-based ship the Pacific Adventurer was lashed by cyclonic winds off the coast of Stradbroke Island last week, sparking what is believed to be Queensland's most devastating oil spill when the vessel's hull and a fuel tank ruptured.
Oil, which escaped from the container ship Pacific Adventurer, contaminates a Sunshine Coast beach.Credit: Getty Images
The containers are thought to have sunk to the seabed or may be floating just below the surface, but environmentalists worry they are at risk of leaking the chemical into the water, causing a potentially toxic algal bloom.
Cerran Fawns, of the Maroochy Waterwatch group, said a large bloom of red algae had sprouted near a mangrove in the Maroochy River, with dead fish found floating nearby.
"There was virtually nothing there on Friday but when we went there yesterday there was a large red area, about three to four metres across," she said.
"It is quite an extensive blanket that has grown very, very rapidly. It is really unusual.
"Obviously, our concern is that they [the missing containers] have something to do with it."
The Environmental Protection Agency had not been notified of the bloom until early on Monday and the type of algae found in the river has yet to be formally identified.
Maritime Safety Queensland, which is leading the oil spill clean-up operation, said last week the cargo would probably not be recovered.
But Ms Fawns said efforts needed to be made to find and dispose of the missing chemicals as quickly as possible.
"They are a ticking time bomb."
Black sludge from the oil spill began to wash up at Marcoola and Coolum beaches within hours of the shipping disaster last Wednesday morning, but a major clean-up effort by authorities and residents on the Sunshine Coast managed to stop it from entering the Maroochy River, Ms Fawns said.
Sixteen beaches along the tourist stretch were reopened on Monday morning, as news emerged the Pacific Adventurer - now berthed at Hamilton Wharves in Brisbane - was no longer leaking oil.
Beaches including Alexandra Headlands, Bulcock Beach, Coolum North, Dicky Beach, Mooloolaba Main Beach, Peregian, North Peregian, Sunrise, Sunshine and Noosa have been reopened, while eight beaches from Currimundi to Point Cartwright and from Twin Waters to Hyatt remain closed.
On Moreton Island, the oiling extends for 25 kilometres south of Cape Moreton.
The mammoth clean-up effort will be buoyed by an additional 280 volunteers due to arrive on the island on Monday.
brisbanetimes.com.au