Whales & Oil Spill off the Kimberley Coast

Here's a link to channel 7's story on the whales on their Sunday Night programme - visually a great story which also brings up the oil slick and the gas hub.

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/-/watch/15774959/

The environment group WWF says dolphins and other marine animals are swimming around in oil leaking from a rig off the north-west Australian coast.

Oil has been leaking from the West Atlas oil rig in the Timor Sea since at least August 21.

WWF representative Gilly Llewellyn says she is aboard a WWF boat close to the oil slick.

She says there are lots of fish and other animals in the area, which are coming into contact with the oil.

"I'm glad that we're literally not seeing lots of dead animals," she said.

"But at the same time we are seeing animals now in the area affected by the slick.

"These animals are likely to be exposed to continuing levels of toxicity that potentially has long-term effects."

Ms Llewellyn says the boat has been moving in and out of oily patches in the area for two days.

"The stuff we're seeing and the stuff we're bringing back is waxy, it's almost like hard cheese or like the hardened wax you get on a chicken soup when the fat hardens," she said.

"This stuff is going to be around for a long time. So we need to sort of shatter the myth that there's not a problem out here."

The company that owns the rig says it is still trying to stop the flow of the oil and the Federal Government says there is no evidence of environmental damage.