Summary of the

Tenyo Maru Oil Spill Restoration 

Natural Resource Trustees

Makah Indian Tribe

Washington Department of Ecology

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

US Fish & Wildlife Service
Introduction On July 22, 1991, the cargo vessel Tuo Hai, owned by the Chinese company, 

Tianjin, collided with the Japanese fi sh processing vessel Tenyo Maru, owned 

by the Maruha Corporation, approximately 20 miles west of Cape Flattery. 

The Tenyo Maru sank at the point of collision in 90 fathoms of water. The 

Tenyo Maru, which was reportedly carrying over 475,000 gallons of oil, sank 

at collision. It initially leaked a large amount of oil and undetermined amounts 

were reported leaking for more than a month after the collision. Beaches were 

fouled with oil from Vancouver Island, British Columbia to northern Oregon. 

While impacts were scattered along the entire Washington State shoreline and the 

northern beaches of Oregon, the heaviest oiling occurred along the Makah Indian 

Reservation and the Olympic National Park shoreline.

A large number of birds, including common murres, Federally-threatened marbled 

murrelets, auklets, tufted puffi ns and pigeon guillemots were killed. Kelp beds 

from Cape Alava north to Tatoosh Island and from Tatoosh Island east to Waadah 

Island had substantial amounts of oil in them. Oil lingered in these giant kelp 

beds for up to two weeks. In Washington, there were large impacts to populations 

of the common murre and the Federally-threatened marbled murrelet.

The U.S. Coast Guard, the State of Washington, the vessel owners, and the 

Makah Indian Tribe were responsible for as much clean-up of the oil from the 

environment as was possible. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the 

State of Washington, and the Makah Indian Tribe were responsible for the care 

of impacted wildlife and, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA) documented the injuries to natural resources. These 

parties formed a Trustee Committee that was responsible for planning, designing, 

constructing and implementing restoration projects to compensate the public for 

the losses as a result of the oil spill.

What are injured resources? 

The most immediate and visible impacts of an oil spill may be injured or dead 

organisms – such as fi sh, birds, wetland plants and sea grasses. Other impacts 

may not readily be apparent. Nurseries or nesting sites for birds may be destroyed 

and birds and other wildlife may become ill from eating contaminated food.

Injured resources may also appear in the diminishment of the 

recreational (e.g., fishing, boating, beach walking, and wildlife 

viewing) and ecological services (e.g., providing habitat, nutrient 

cycling, and energy transfer through food webs) that natural 

resources provide.

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) and its accompanying Natural Resource 

Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) process go into effect when there 

is an oil spill.

The goal of OPA is to make the environment and the public whole for injuries to 

natural resources and services resulting from an incident involving a discharge 

of oil. The NRDA process is the mechanism OPA provides to achieve this goal. 

Through this process, the Trustees work to return the injured natural resources 

and services to a pre-incident condition and to compensate the public for their losses.

Who is responsible for natural resource restoration?

The NRDA process is paid for by funds recovered from the parties responsible 

for the oil spill and not at the expense of the taxpayer but the Trustees are 

ultimately responsible for ensuring that the OPA objectives are fulfi lled and the 

natural resources are restored.

How does the public get involved in natural resource restoration?

The Trustees rely on public input during the restoration planning phase. 

Restoration plans must undergo public review to ensure broad support for 

the actions chosen to restore the injured resources. Additionally, individual 

and group volunteers are often encouraged to participate in many restoration 

implementation activities. Because each project is localized, the best way to fi nd 

more information about getting involved is to contact a local trustee bureau 

offi ce or a local trustee partner.

What laws are 

applicable when 

there is an oil spill?

When Natural 

Resources are 

Injured

Cape Flattery OCNMS
Approaches to 

Restoring the Land

Tufted puffi n

Roy W. Lowe /USFWS

Common murre OCNMS

Black oystercatcher

David Ledig/USFWS

Special Thanks to Google Earth for map image.

Cape Flattery

San Juan Islands

La Push

Grays Harbor

Aberdeen

Willapa Bay

Seattle

Raymond

Columbia River

Astoria

Newport

In their efforts to restore the injured resources and in compliance 

with OPA and the National Environmental Policy Act, the Trustee 

Committee developed a range of alternatives for restoration 

approaches and activities and then identifi ed their preferred 

alternative based on the standards provided by these statutes.

The primary goal of restoration in any oil spill is to compensate 

the public for direct injuries to natural resources and any indirect 

injuries as they may experience them through the services and 

benefi ts that those natural resources provide. Injury from the 

Tenyo Maru incident was clearly documented for seabirds and 

kelp. Therefore the goals of the Trustees’ restoration plan were to 

restore, rehabilitate, acquire the equivalent of the natural resources, 

or replace specifi c populations of seabirds and kelp beds and their 

associated communities. These goals served the Trustees’ primary 

objective of providing a functioning and sustainable ecosystem 

through restoration.

Embarking on this process, the Trustees developed four alternatives 

to restore the natural resources lost as a result of the Tenyo Maru 

oil spill. Each alternative was considered for both its benefi ts to 

the affected species in the environment as well as its possible 

detrimental effects to the environment. The Trustees sought and 

considered the public’s comments in the development of the 

Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment. Each alternative is 

briefl y explained below.

1) Habitat-focused Restoration

Habitat is broadly defi ned as both the biological and physical environment in 

which kelp occurs or individual seabirds breed, roost, or forage. The goal of this 

alternative is simply to provide quality habitat. It is assumed that the injured 

species and services would be restored over time if such habitat is created, 

protected or otherwise made available. The goal, then, of this alternative is not 

the manipulation of seabird population parameters but simply the manipulation 

and/or protection of the seabird habitats. Properly conducted projects under this 

alternative should have minimal, if any, negative impacts to the environment and 

no adverse impacts to threatened or endangered species are anticipated. 

2) Population-Focused Restoration

Projects conducted under this alternative will attempt to 

benefi cially affect populations of injured species by directly or 

indirectly manipulating one or more population demographic 

factors (e.g. survival, number of adults attempting to breed, age 

at fi rst breeding attempt). A population’s size may be increased, 

restored, or distribution may be altered by increasing immigration, 

releasing rehabilitated injured individuals, enhancing natal 

recruitment, and improving reproductive success at specifi c localities. 

The environmental consequences of properly conceived, designed, 

implemented, and monitored projects conducted under this alternative 

should be minimal.

3) No action/Natural recovery - (required by the OPA regulations and 

the NEPA process) 

Under this alternative, the Trustees would take no direct action to restore 

injured natural resources or compensate for lost services pending 

environmental recovery. Instead, the Trustees would rely on natural 

process for recovery of the injured natural resources. While natural 

recovery would occur over varying time scales for various injured 

resources, the interim losses suffered would not be compensated under 

this alternative. This alternative has no direct environmental consequences 

because, by defi nition, no manipulations to the environment would take place.

4) An Integrative Restoration Approach 

Using an integrative approach implies the simultaneous application 

of alternatives 1-3 such that each is more effective than when applied 

alone. The integrated approach also provides a broader scale of 

restoration and benefi ts a larger variety of rare and sensitive species 

by protecting and restoring nesting, feeding, resting, rearing and other 

forms of habitats used during the lives of the species. This approach 

also uses all available techniques that provide predictable and 

testable results.

After a process of public input, the Trustees chose the Integrative 

Restoration Approach to design and implement its restoration 

activities.
Marbled murrelets 

(Brachyramphus marmoratus), 

a seabird about 

the size of a 

robin, have 

many unusual 

characteristics. 

While foraging 

for fi sh in the 

ocean, its small 

pointed wings 

allow it to 

“fl y” beneath 

the surface of 

the water. Aloft, the small size of the 

wings reduces the bird’s lift, making it 

necessary for it to fl y with a very rapid 

wing beat. When it lands, the bird must 

go into a dive, turn upside down, and 

stall. It is the only seabird whose nesting 

habitat is in old growth or mature trees. 

Murrelets do not build nests, rather they 

make shallow depressions in the moss 

that grows on large, old tree limbs and 

lay a single egg. Because of the losses 

in this type of coastal forest habitat, 

the number of murrelets has declined, 

leading to its Endangered Species Act 

listing as “threatened” in 1992.

Kelp and the Kelp Community

Kelp beds produce such large amounts 

of carbon for their size that they are 

considered some of the most productive 

systems on earth. The canopy formed 

by Bull whip and giant kelp during 

the summer and fall shades the plants 

below them in the water, infl uencing 

the amounts and kinds of plants that 

co-exist in the kelp beds. Kelp provides 

food for a rich and diverse community of 

organisms that serve as prey for fi sh and 

invertebrates. It is also an important 

part of many invertebrates’ diets, such 

as purple urchins, red sea urchins and 

northern abalone. Young, juvenile and 

adult forage fi sh species such as Pacifi c 

herring, northern anchovy, and sand 

lance are abundant in and around kelp 

beds and feed extensively on planktonic 

invertebrates associated with these 

beds. 

Sea otters, reintroduced to the 

Washington coast, have a close 

association with kelp beds. They feed 

on many of the associated organisms 

and use kelp to rest in (Bowlby et al. 

1988). Marine birds and shorebirds, 

such as marbled murrelets, have 

demonstrated their close association 

with the kelp beds along the north 

coast and western Strait of Juan de Fuca 

(Thompson 1996).

Beyond their contributions to the food 

chain and habitat needs of marine 

species, Kelp plants act as active 

transporters of rock materials, absorb 

wave energy and dampen wave action, 

thereby infl uencing beach slope, 

stability and the material makeup of 

beaches. Loss of kelp may change the 

makeup of the beach and, consequently, 

the types or numbers of organisms that 

can use the beach.

To replace or provide a functioning and sustainable ecosystem in 

the area where the oil spill injuries occurred, the Restoration Plan 

placed special emphasis on enhancing the specifi c populations 

of seabirds and kelp beds. Implementation of restoration began 

during the summer of 2000. All restoration projects were directly 

linked, geographically and/or biologically, to the natural resources 

injured by the Tenyo Maru oil spill. 

Habitat-focused Restoration 

Permanent Protection of Marbled Murrelet Habitat and Reduction of River Silt to 

the Marine Ecosystem 

June 2001 – 2006

A large proportion of the settlement funding was used to protect and restore over 

900 acres of forest on three properties, including almost 220 acres of rare coastal 

old growth. 1) Teal Slough was acquired by the Trustees and is now managed 

by the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge; 2) Anderson Point and 3) Waatch 

Valley are 200-year Land Use Agreements funded by the Trustees on Makah 

tribal land. The acquisition and agreements permanently protect these marbled 

murrelet nesting habitats from logging, development, or other activities that are 

detrimental to marbled murrelet nesting. By protecting and providing natural 

restoration for these properties, silt deposits on kelp ecosystems at the mouths of 

streams and rivers are also reduced. 

The Trustees’ efforts were aimed at protecting habitats that are biologically rich 

and not permanently protected from detrimental use. Their preservation and 

restoration will protect many species of plants and animals that live in mature 

coastal forests.

Project costs: $4.7 million

Restoration: 

Now and for the 

Future

THE PLIGHT OF MARINE SEA BIRDS ON THE NORTHWEST COAST

More than 72 percent of Washington’s marine birds nest on the Stateıs 

outer coast. Sixteen species of marine birds nest here, with a total estimated 

population of over 218,000 birds. The most numerous species include Cassinıs 

auklets, Leachıs storm-petrels, common murres, rhinoceros auklets, glaucouswinged and western gulls and tufted puffi ns.

More than a dozen species of seabirds nest on the rocks and islands of the 300-

mile Oregon Coast. The Oregon Islands and Three Arch Rocks NWRs provide 

critical nesting habitat for more than one million seabirds. Common murres 

are the most numerous with an estimated population of 722,500 birds (Lowe 

and Pitkin 1996). Other nesting seabirds include rhinoceros auklets, pigeon 

guillemots, tufted puffi ns, cormorants, and western and glaucous-winged gulls. 

Prior to the Tenyo Maru oil spill in Washington, the population of the common 

murres, marbled murrelets and rhinoceros auklets had been of concern. 

Underwater Kelp Beds

© Steven Fisher Colony Rock, Oregon Islands NWR 

David S. Pitkin/USFWS
Terrestrial Marbled Murrelet Surveys to Protect Forested Habitat 

Through the Identifi cation of Nesting Locations

April 2001 – June 2003

During the summers of 2001 and 2002, terrestrial surveys for marbled murrelet 

nesting habitat were conducted in coastal Washington. Identifi cation of occupied 

marbled murrelet areas occurred on approximately 2,900 acres of forested 

habitat. These data increased habitat protection on land in areas where logging 

and other activities would compromise the bird’s nesting habitat.

These new data for the sites were incorporated into the State’s habitat database 

that is required to be searched prior to Habitat Conservation Plan negotiations 

for property development or State or Federal permit approvals. In addition, the 

information will be used to expand protection of marbled murrelets and their 

habitat under the Endangered Species Act.

Project cost: $408,000

Emergency Towing Vessel at Entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca 

December 1999 –June 2000

This project covered the December 1999 – June 2000 winter season and was 

intended to help eliminate the risk to restoration of affected sea bird populations, 

kelp beds and other marine resources posed by a drifting and/or disabled vessel 

transiting the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The vessel’s presence assisted the State in 

conducting drills and exercises to test coordination with existing governmental 

and voluntary vessel safety and response measures. These tests provided data to 

the North Puget Sound Risk Assessment Panel as it considered improvements to 

the safety of marine transportation in North Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan 

de Fuca and the merits of a yearly towing vessel operation.

Project Cost: $400,000

Restoration of Common Murre Colonies in Copalis National 

Wildlife Refuge

July 2002-March 2003

The long-term goal of this project was to reestablish a self-sustaining breeding 

population of common murres within the Copalis NWR.

Phase I of this project determined the feasibility of using social attraction 

techniques to reestablish self-sustaining breeding populations of common murre 

colonies at former breeding colony locations in the Copalis NWR. The Trustees 

evaluated whether the presence of breeding common murres could be increased 

at the site through a decoy project that would encourage breeding behavior, 

breeding activities, and breeding attempts. 

The feasibility data were collected in spring/summer of 2001/2002. An 

evaluation of the data was conducted in the spring of 2003. The Committee 

concluded that Phase 2 of this project was not feasible and directed the remaining 

funds to the Marbled Murrelet Habitat Project.

Project cost: $364,000 

The Common murre (Uria aalge)

is a large, diving seabird that breeds 

and feeds widely along the coasts of the 

northern Pacifi c and northern Atlantic 

oceans. They are wing-propelled pursuit 

divers capable of extended and deep 

dives. Common murres are highly 

social and breed in extremely 

dense colonies on cliff ledges, fl at 

low-lying islands, and the tops of 

offshore stacks. Murres are loyal to 

their mates and nesting sites and 

begin breeding at the age of 4-5 years. 

Chicks are not able to fl y when they 

leave their nesting site, they scramble 

to the sea, usually accompanied by the 

male parent who teaches them to fi sh 

and escorts them back to the cliffs until 

they can make the trip alone.

While the widespread global 

distribution of common murre makes 

them less susceptible as a species, 

local populations can be signifi cantly 

impacted by oil contamination, gill net 

mortality and human disturbance.

Common murres allopreening

David S. Pitkin/USFWS

Population-focused 

Restoration 

Old Growth Sitka Spruce

Roy W. Lowe/USFWS

Tatoosh Island OCNMS
July 2002 – December 2004

These projects were designed to educate boaters, kayakers, aircraft pilots and 

other visitors about disturbance impacts to nesting seabird colonies and the 

Makah Indian Tribe’s culturally sensitive areas. Their purpose was to educate the 

public on how modifying their behavior can decrease adverse impacts on seabird 

productivity and survival. These public education activities complemented 

existing programs managed by the Olympic Coast 

National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS) and the Copalis 

NWR and the projects worked in coordination with 

outreach activities being planned by other natural resource 

trustees for the northern California seabird communities. 

This project, in conjunction with related programs in 

Washington and California, signifi cantly increased public 

awareness along the entire West Coast of the impacts that 

disturbance to seabirds has on their populations and the 

importance of protecting these marine habitats.

Educational Posters and Panels : 6,000 posters were 

printed and widely distributed to marine supply stores, 

marine ports and other outreach projects. Large panels (48” X 72”) were installed 

at 11 coastal marinas along the Oregon coast. The posters and panels educate 

the public (primarily boaters) about the sensitivity of nesting seabirds to human 

disturbance and make recommendations on how to prevent disturbance when 

people are near colonies. 

Wooden kiosks were installed at the Cape Flattery and Shi Shi Beach trailheads 

on the Makah Indian Reservation near Neah Bay, Washington. Each kiosk 

includes three panels. The Tenyo Maru panel highlights the ecology and 

sensitivity of nesting seabirds and the impact of past oil spills. In a coordinated 

effort, the other two complementary panels were produced by the OCNMS and 

the Makah Indian Tribe and describe the value and characteristics of the area.

Overfl ight Posters and Brochures: This outreach project produced high quality 

posters describing the impacts of low-fl ying aircraft to nesting seabirds. It 

educates Oregon pilots about conducting safe overfl ights of sensitive marine 

and seabird habitat and builds upon the Washington overfl ight program jointly 

managed by the OCNMS and the Washington Maritime National Wildlife 

Refuge. The posters were distributed to airports in Oregon and surrounding 

states. 

Project Cost: $125,000

Commemoration Event and Final Outreach Document

August 2006

This project informs the public of the importance of the NRDA process and the 

benefi ts it provides the American public by returning injured natural resources 

to their pre-incident conditions. In August 2006, the Trustees completed the 

implementation of the Restoration Plan. With so much accomplished, they 

planned a celebration and commemoration event to share this milestone with 

the public, and to take the opportunity to further inform them of the threats and 

needs of Washington and Oregon’s seabirds and kelp beds. 

This event also dedicated two of the three forests protected with settlement 

funding for marbled murrelet habitat. For this reason, the event was held 

at Neah Bay, on the Makah Indian Reservation, near two of the forests being 

preserved. Dignitaries and representatives from the Trustee agencies and the 

Tribe, along with the interested public, were invited to the event. The Makah 

Indian Tribe hosted this ceremonial event with traditional singing and dancing 

and a salmon buffet.

As a fi nal report and outreach product, this summary document of the 

NRDA process and its associated restoration accomplishments is available 

for distribution to further educate and commemorate a landmark event in 

Northwest natural resource management history. 

Project cost: $33,000

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bowlby, C.E., B.L. Troutman, et al. 1988. Sea otters in Washington: Distribution, abundance and 

activity patterns. National Coastal Research Institute, Newport Oregon.

Lowe, R.W. and D.S. Pitkin. 1996. Replicate Aerial Photographic censuses of Oregon Common Murre 

Colonies 1995. Final report submitted to the Tenyo Maru Trustee Committee.

Speich, S.M. and t.r. Wahl. 1995. Marbled murrelet populations of Washington--marine habitat 

preferences and variability of occurrence. Pg. 313-326 in C.J. Ralph, G.L. Hunt, M.G. Raphael, and J.F. 

Piatt (ed.). Ecology and conservation of the Marbled Murrelet. Pacifi c Southwest Research Station, 

Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Albany, CA.

Thompson, C.W. 1996. Distribution and abundance of marbled murrelets and common murres in 

relation to marine habitat on the outer coast of Washington--An interim report to the Tenyo Maru 

Trustee Coun

Public Education 

Signs and Brochures 

Cape Flattery OCNMS