Containment booms are working to contain hydraulic oil at Goldstream Boathouse Marina after a roughly 65ft wooden tug that was permanently moored there sank on Tuesday.
The Canadian Coast Guard says it received the call that the living vessel on board had sunk and there were signs of pollution.
According to the marina, the fuel tanks were then empty and the oil visible on the surface was considered hydraulic oil.
The owner and captain were not on board at the time and no one was injured.
Malahat Nation and marina staff were first on the scene, quickly setting up an sorbent boom around the area to protect the sensitive Goldstream habitat nearby.
When Coast Guard crews arrived, they followed up with rigid containment booms that they say appear to be working.
“The small amounts of slowly bubbling oil stayed in that containment dam and we didn’t see any oil outside of that dam,” said Jeff Brady, superintendent of the Coast Guard’s environmental response in Western Canada. “With the oil that was inside that dam, we were using absorbent material to collect it.”
The Coast Guard deployed two helicopters to get an idea of how far the oil had traveled…Richmond’s ‘Sea Island’ dive team was also brought in.
Dive and plug fuel vents and also give an assessment of the vessel’s position.
“We work with the Malahat Nation and I just want to say a big thank you to them because they were on stage almost immediately,” Brady said.
In the coming days, contractors are expected to be on site to mobilize and recover the vessel and remove it from the marine environment.
Right now they are asking people to stay away from the marina.
Editorial policies Report an error
