Rena oil spill and clean-up Operation

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Department of Conservation cleaning the washed up oil on the beautiful beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

02/25

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A local man makes a start at cleaning up the oil mess at Mt Maunganui.

03/25

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Health Warnings at the beaches of Mt Manganui and Papamoa.

04/25

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Locals clean up the oil mess on the beautiful beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

05/25

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Local people cleaning the washed up oil on the beautiful beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

06/25

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Local people cleaning the washed up oil on the beautiful beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

07/25

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Waste bags used by locals to collect the oil on the beaches.

08/25

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A blue bottle stuck amongst the oil.

09/25

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A puffer fish dead amongst the oil on the beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

10/25

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Oil drips off a log on the beach.

11/25

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The army seen cleaning up the oil on the beaches at Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

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The army cleaning up the oil on the beaches at Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

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The army cleaning up the oil on the beaches at Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

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A sea shell amongst the oil on the beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

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Local people cleaning the washed up oil on the beautiful beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

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A young girl proud of her efforts while cleaning up the oil on the beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

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Oil overflowing from a container used by locals to clean up.

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Local people cleaning the washed up oil on the beautiful beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

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Local people cleaning the washed up oil on the beautiful beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

20/25

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Oil spread along the once beautiful beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

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Oil on the shorebreak at Papamoa Beach.

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Local people cleaning the washed up oil on the beautiful beaches of Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

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A bird dead amongst the oil on the beach.

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A puffer fish dead amongst the oil on the beach.

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A bird with oil on it's feathers, feels the horrible effects of the toxic waste.

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Locals at Mt Maunganui and Papamoa help to clean up the beach after the oil container Rena struck a reef causing the country's most serious ever maritime environmental disaster with oil polluting the pristine coastline. New Zealand. 12th October 2011

Rena oil disaster - a vessel suck on the reef near Motiti Island off the coast of Mt Maunganui, NZ. Oil has made it's way to the shore and as you can see from the photographs, killed a lot of the wildlife and polluted the shorelines and beautiful pristine beaches of this wonderful part of the country. Locals are taking matters into their own hands and cleaning up the beach, despite advice from authorities. The NZ army and Dept. of Conservation are making an effort too. A slick like this will be hard to clean up and will probably take months of effort.