AS well as oil, nearly 17 tonnes of tiny plastic beads the Rena was carrying may pose a threat to wildlife as rubbish washes up on Bay of Plenty beaches in New Zealand.
A container of translucent polymer beads, about 2mm to 3mm in size and used in the plastics industry, was aboard the ship when it crashed into the Astrolabe reef more than three months ago.
It is unclear how many of the bags were released from the container but some of the beads and the bags they were in have started washing ashore.
Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) says they may be eaten by birds.
It remains to be seen whether eating the beads will hurt the birds or whether they will be able to pass them without ill effect, and MNZ says it is following up on reports birds have been seen eating them.
So far, only small amounts of oil have washed ashore since the ship broke up and the stern section sank in the last week, which may be because rough sea seas have broken up the oil.
Forty-five oiled birds were found dead this week, bringing the total number of dead wildlife to 2066.
WWF-New Zealand is warning the number of oiled wildlife reported dead is just a fraction of the true figure.
Marine programme manager Rebecca Bird says that during a significant storm, oiled birds will drown more quickly and many will disappear from view.
"The corpses the teams are collecting are the tip of the iceberg, and of course the number of animals affected by the spill is greater still," she said.
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