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Monday, 01 December, 2008, 22:10 GMT | more >>

Kiwis dredge bay for rig-riding mussels



By Upstream staff 

A portion of New Zealand’s seabed is being dredged after a South African mussel was discovered on Diamond Offshore’s drilling rig the Ocean Patriot.

The potentially invasive South African brown mussel was found on the rig’s hull as the Ocean Patriot was cleaned in New Zealand prior to its departure for Australia.

Now authorities fear the organism may have fallen on to the ocean floor during the clean-up, said a New Zealand government agency.

The Ocean Patriot was cleaned in Tasman Bay north of the South Island as part of its mobilisation from a multi-well programme in New Zealand to Victoria, Australia.

Biosecurity New Zealand said the affected area "will be thoroughly dredged and, apart from some samples taken for further analysis, the materials collected will be disposed of onshore in a landfill".

"The clean up operation is being largely funded by the oil rig's owners," it said.

"Discussions are now under way with industry over the adoption of new procedures to ensure we prevent another occurrence,” said New Zealand's oil company association Pepanz.


Monday, 03 March, 2008, 04:50 GMT  | last updated: Monday, 03 March, 2008, 08:31 GMT

Blistering barnacles: potentially invasive South Africa mussels made their home aboard the Ocean Patriot
 

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