Poole Harbour: Seahorse Trust calls oil spill 'massive disaster'

An oil leak in Poole Harbour is a "massive disaster" for seahorses in the UK, a conservation charity has said.

The warning from the Seahorse Trust comes after 200 barrels of reservoir fluid leaked from a Perenco pipeline at an onshore oil field on Sunday.

The group said the ecological impact would likely be long-term and the matter "should not be taken lightly".

Perenco UK said it was aware of its responsibilities to return the area to its original state.

The harbour in Dorset is home to both spiny and short-snouted seahorses - the only two types of the small marine fish found on UK shores.

Neil Garrick-Maidment, executive director of the Seahorse Trust, told the BBC: "There is an east-west drift with the current so, if the oil is coming out of Poole Harbour, it is going to drift west into Studland Bay, which is internationally the most important site for spiny seahorses for breeding."

He said the biodiversity and ecological network in the area was "phenomenal and all interconnected", meaning higher-than-normal volumes of oil in the water were a "nightmare".

"This oil leak is, to be honest, a massive disaster," Mr Garrick-Maidment added.

"We don't know really to what extent it has caused damage yet but like all oil leaks, once the oil settles down on to the seabed it forms these little pebble things and then every time there is a storm it just re-pollutes basically, it flushes it back up again and you get more pollution."

The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) expressed concern over the contamination on migratory fish, particularly young Atlantic salmon and sea trout, which are at the start of their seabound migration from the rivers Frome and Piddle that flow through Poole Harbour.

The National Trust said it was also "carefully monitoring the situation", citing particular concern for the harbour's largest island.

"Brownsea Island is a part of an internationally important wetland and marine conservation zone, and is a haven for wildlife, including oystercatchers and sandwich terns," a spokesperson said.

"We remain seriously concerned about the impacts of the spill on wildlife populations and the varied habitats they depend on."

Poole Harbour is the largest natural harbour in Europe and about 5,000 acres of it is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Perenco previously said each barrel contained 158 litres (35 gallons) of fluids that were made up of 85% water and 15% oil.

A containment and clean-up operation was launched by Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC), which regulates activities in the harbour.

A PHC spokesperson said it had received reports of oiled birds but there had been no known fatalities and that monitoring was ongoing to assess the impact on habitats.

The government has said it will launch an investigation.

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