Unalaska, AK – An early tallying of the damage from the 2004 Selendang Ayu oil spill suggests that sea birds were the hardest hit among the animals living in the affected areas of Unalaska Island.

A preliminary assessment of damages from the spill was released earlier this week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the other state and federal agencies involved in recovery work. The document looks at the impacts on the whole ecosystem of Unalaska Island's western coast, from marine invertebrates to salmon streams to sea otters. The assessment says that at least 41 species of birds were injured by the oil spill, and appear to have been affected worse than the marine mammals, fish and vegetation in the area.

The document doesn't offer many hard numbers for those impacts, and the FWS's Jennifer Kohout said that getting a good estimate of this kind of impact is tough.

"Certainly that's the big challenge in this work," she said. "With birds, there's an accepted modeling exercise, and you look at other spills to get a sense for what's happened there. But it's sort of the crux of the challenge."

The Selendang Ayu wrecked in December 2004, and the spill cleanup didn't end until a year and a half later, after which the research into the impacts of the spill began in earnest. Kohout said they're still getting some of that data together, and the fieldwork is still ongoing.

"We did a follow-up harlequin duck study this February," she said. "And we're planning to go back out this summer and get on some of the key beaches to see if there's still oil out there, and if so, if we think it's a problem."

The preliminary assessment issued this week will ultimately help determine what kind of restoration projects happen on the other side of the island.

Kohout will be in Unalaska next week talking to community members about those plans, presenting to the City Council meeting on Tuesday and at the Qawalangin Tribe on Thursday. There will also be a community meeting on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Unalaska City School auditorium.

The preliminary assessment is available here.