On 12 April 2011 , the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ( ABC ) program Foreign Correspondent screened a report on Chuuk Lagoon likening the effect of the impending massive release of tens of thousands of tonnes of oil from the rusting Japanese warships into the coral reef to that of the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska . However , given the poor state of the Japanese war effort in 1944 , many of the ships may have had relatively small amounts of fuel in their bunkers . Environmental protection organizations are surveying the wrecks while also consulting with Japanese researchers to try to determine how much oil is likely to be in the hulks , particularly in three sunken oil tankers
Exxon Valdez spill
Exxon Valdez oil spill
Chuuk Lagoon