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The jet-fueling oil tanker was recently attacked by a cargo ship at an anchor 13 miles from the UK's East Coast. This resulted in a series of large explosions and a huge plume of black smoke, but still an unknown amount of jet fuel spilled into the ocean.
We are marine ecologists at Hull University, the city closest to the incident. We know this coast and these oceans very well. It's too early to say exactly what the outcome is, but we know that this spill is at risk, one of the UK's most important coastlines.
The collision occurred in offshore marine sanctuaries, a rough sandy seabed area that supports many different species. These include Ocean Kuahog, an edible clam known to live for over 500 years. The area also serves as a nursery for fish such as lemon sole, plaise and European splats.
This area overlaps with those specified to protect the harbor rats and nearby humber estuaries and its mud flats, dunes and marshlands. There, thousands of birds spend the winter along with other important species such as lampreys and gray seals.
The UK's largest mainland breeding seabird colonies can be found just north of the collision site along the Flamboro and File Coast. Over 250,000 birds build their nests there every year. This includes an impressive number of Guillemots and Lazzolville. It also hosts Gannett, Kitty Wake, and conservation concerns that are worthy.
To the south is other protected coastlines and important breeding sites for gray seals. The wash, in which four rivers empty into the same large square estuary, has been found 70 km south, in the general direction of drift from tanker impact. The area has a large salt marsh, making it another important site for wintering birds.
