During the refuelling of a cargo ship – quantity of oil spilled still unknown
A ship re-fuelling at the Port of Tauranga spilled an unknown quantity of heavy fuel oil into the harbour last Wednesday, SunLive reports
Regional council were alerted to the spill of heavy fuel oil around 4.25pm and were on scene in less than 10 minutes
Regional Council Maritime and Pollution Prevention staff worked late into the night and the next day cleaning up.
An inspection of the beaches at first light found oil pollution along the south of Pilot Bay by the toilet blocks to Salisbury Wharf – the area around the berth at the Port.
Oil was located in eel grass near the Pilot Bay toilet block, which was bagged and removed. There is no discernible tideline on moored boats in the bay and a shoreline search of the entrance in daylight on Thursday found minimal oil.
According to SunLive, apart from some spots of oil around Pilot Bay, minimal oil was observedThere were no observed environmental effects or reports through the Regional Council’s Pollution hotline
