Oil Dumped Off Cornwall - Rancid Palm Oil That Is . . .

In the past few days, Shiptalk reports:

A mystery vessel is being accused of dumping rancid palm oil products off the UK coast, and act which has led to pollution of beaches – and also the death of at least one dog in Cornwall.

BBC News report here:

The clear-up of a substance on Cornish beaches has begun after it was found to be palm oil, a contractor says.
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Cory Environmental, which works for Cornwall Council, said it was removing the substance after it was identified as "safe to touch".

Public Health England (PHE) said the substance was identified as a "non-harmful oil-based product".

Not "dog safe" though, it appears.

Back in February 2013, sea birds reportedly were coated with palm oil:

A mysterious sticky substance covering more than 100 birds which washed up on the coast of southern England could be palm oil dumped in the sea.
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Many were found on the shores of Chesil Cove in Dorset, but others appeared up to 200 miles away in Cornwall.
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Joshi added: "If the birds get to this shoreline, they're exhausted, they're unable to fly, they can't get back into the water so their chances of survival are near to minimal.

Earlier this year, in October, according to this report, a previous (2012) palm oil dumping vessel was both identified and fined:

A Singaporean-registered Maersk Group tanker was found guilty and fined £22,500 yesterday for dumping a mixture of palm oil and tank cleaning fluid within 12 miles of Land’s End last year - leaving a slick 20 miles long.

The unique trial at Truro Magistrates Court has been highlighted as the first time satellite footage has been used by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the prosecution of a company for dumping waste illegally in the UK.

The timing is interesting, but so is the repetition of "palm oil" incidents in the area even given Cornwall's exposed position to the major sea lanes in the area.

Who knew there was so much palm oil dumping going on?

Italy: Sunken Toxic Waste Ship

Off the coast of the "toe" of Italy: Mafia 'sank ships of toxic waste'

A shipwreck apparently containing toxic waste is being investigated by authorities in Italy amid claims that it was deliberately sunk by the mafia.

An informant from the Calabrian mafia said the ship was one of a number he blew up as part of an illegal operation to bypass laws on toxic waste disposal.

The sunken vessel has been found 30km (18 miles) off the south-west of Italy.

The informant said it contained "nuclear" material. Officials said it would be tested for radioactivity.

Murky pictures taken by a robot camera show the vessel intact and alongside it are a number of yellow barrels.

Labels on them say the contents are toxic.

The informant said the mafia had muscled in on the lucrative business of radioactive waste disposal.

But he said that instead of getting rid of the material safely, he blew up the vessel out at sea, off the Calabrian coast.

He also says he was responsible for sinking two other ships containing toxic waste.

Experts are now examining samples taken from the wreck.

More here:

About 30 ships containing radioactive and other poisonous refuse may have been scuttled off the Italian coast in an illegal Mafia operation to dispose of dangerous substances at sea.

Italy’s political opposition yesterday demanded an investigation after the wreck of a cargo vessel containing 120 barrels of potentially radioactive waste was found in waters off the southern province of Calabria. Environmental campaigners said that many more ships containing toxic and radioactive rubbish were believed to lie near by.

The discovery of the Cunsky, sunk in 1992, came after her location was revealed to anti-Mafia investigators by Francesco Fonti, a former member of the ’Ndrangheta, or Calabrian Mafia, who has become an informant. Mr Fonti claimed that the Cunsky contained radioactive material.