Issue 5

If you saw someone chuck their chewing gum in the sea, how would you feel? What about cling-film or sticky tape? Most people would feel pretty offended. So when hundreds of dead birds begin washing ashore due a substance used to make all three of these products, you can imagine the outrage. April this year has seen over a 1000 dead birds washed ashore between Dodman Point (Cornwall) and Teign Estuary (Devon). The RSPB and South Devon Sea Bird Trust are also caring for another 200+ affected birds, although the full implications of the event may never be known. All this is due to a substance identified by Plymouth University as Polyisobutene.

 Polyisobutene, also known as PIB, is a near colourless, odourless, tasteless form of rubber that is also completely impermeable to both gas and water. Being hydrophobic, it forms a glue-like layer when in contact with water and floats either above, or just below the surface. This could not be more detrimental to sea birds, particularly those that dive to find food. By throwing themselves onto the PIB layer, their wings often become stuck to their bodies and cause immobilisation. This can lead to an inability to feed, hypothermia and eventually death. In some case, ingestion of PIB’s waxy form can also be fatal.

How this substance came to be floating just of the coast of one of the country’s most beautiful tourist locations, at the beginning of bird breeding season, is yet unknown. PIB is used as a thickening agent in industrial lubricants and usually enters the water when ships flush their tanks, although the possibility of an illegal spill has not been ruled out. Unbelievably, if this was a clearing of tanks, it would have been completely legal. Remarkably it is unknown how much PIB is legally released into the sea on a daily basis and the RSPB state the risk has been greatly underestimated.

Organisations such as the RSPB, RSPCA and Wildlife Trust have all written to Stephen Hammond, the shipping minister, urging him to raise the issue with the International Maritime Organisation and ultimately have the hazard classification of PIB reviewed.  But is it too little too late? After a similar incident earlier this year along the coast of Dorset, how is it that this devastating issue not already come to the attention of the organisations charged with the responsibility of protecting our beautiful oceans?