With an up welling of fuel over the weekend raising alarm bells at Hartley Bay, the northwest community is looking for a few answers from both the coast guard and BC Ferries over the status of the wreck of the Queen of the North. .
The situation over the wreck has become the largest issue around for the officials of Hartley Bay who would like to know where it stands with the Ferry Corporation over the leaking fuel and what the next steps may be in solving a problem that was left on their doorstep.
The Daily news featured the concerns of the villagers in their Tuesday edition.
FUEL SPEWING FROM SUNKEN FERRY CONCERNS VILLAGERS
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Page One
An up-welling of fuel from the sunken Queen of the North ferry threatened the traditional food sources of the people of Hartley Bay this weekend but the residents had no ability to respond.
Twice during the weekend, fuel bleached up from the wreck, leaving a sheen on the water’s surface near sunken vessel.
On Friday, Marven Robinson spotted a patch about 15 metres wide and by about five-miles long, located around five kilometers north of Hartley Bay.
Then, on Saturday, B. C. Ferries representatives spotted a second sheen during a fly-over of the wreck site.
Chris Picard, a marine biologist, said there was a substantial sized slick visible on Friday but the community did not have the capacity to go out and clean it up.
“We reported it to both B. C. Ferries and the Coast Guard and I know the Coast Guard did not deploy anyone to go clean it up,” said Picard.
Bob Hill, chief councilor of the Gitga’at council, said that while they do have boom material that could be used to contain a fuel leak, the tiny community does not currently have the large vessel needed on stand-by to deploy the booms.
It’s something they are trying to address with either Burrard Clean or a local seiner.
“We are right at the peak of harvesting our food, exercising our aboriginal rights and ensuring we have enough traditional foods that we have always harvested,” said Bob Hill, chief councilor of Gitga’at band council.
While they have harvested seaweed without problems, they will be staying away from all shellfish, he said.
“We are concerned at the end of the day we may end with some contaminated traditional foods. We do not know the amount, all we know is the size of the upwelling… and it was drifting towards Muddy Point, one of the traditional areas we use for harvesting and fishing.”
B. C. Ferries responded to the reports of a sighting by sending up its director of environment and a representative from Burrard Clean, an oil spill response company.
But by Saturday, much of the first slick had dispersed.
“It (the fuel) didn’t have any rainbow colours in it, which would indicate it would be a very light concentration,” said Deborah Marshall. B. C. Ferries spokesperson. “It was too light of a concentration to sample.”
The wreck has been leaking one quarter to one half a litre of fuel a day.
“That’s been happening for quite some time,” she said.
The company is not planning to take any further action because it does not expect the fuel to hit any shorelines.
Marshall said B. C. Ferries has trained 10 of the community members to deploy boom equipment if there is an upwelling. Following boom deployment, Burrard Clean is brought in to continue the clean-up.
“What we are going to do this summer is arrange for refresher training. We are also going to do an oil spill exercise with the representatives from Hartley Bay,” she said.
The 180 member Gitga’at community has been lobbying for removal of any remaining fuel from the ferry which sank in March 2006 after hitting Gil Island.
The ferry, which was heading south from Prince Rupert at the time, held 220,000 litres of diesel, 20,000 litres of light oil and 220 litres of hydraulic oil when it was fully loaded.
There were also 16 vehicles aboard when it sank.
It is unknown how much of the liquids remain in the wreck. Conservative estimates suggest there could be 150,000 litres left in the vessel – although the figure is the subject of debate.
The company has no plans to try and remove any remaining fuel from the sunken vessel.
The Daily news featured the concerns of the villagers in their Tuesday edition.
FUEL SPEWING FROM SUNKEN FERRY CONCERNS VILLAGERS
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Page One
An up-welling of fuel from the sunken Queen of the North ferry threatened the traditional food sources of the people of Hartley Bay this weekend but the residents had no ability to respond.
Twice during the weekend, fuel bleached up from the wreck, leaving a sheen on the water’s surface near sunken vessel.
On Friday, Marven Robinson spotted a patch about 15 metres wide and by about five-miles long, located around five kilometers north of Hartley Bay.
Then, on Saturday, B. C. Ferries representatives spotted a second sheen during a fly-over of the wreck site.
Chris Picard, a marine biologist, said there was a substantial sized slick visible on Friday but the community did not have the capacity to go out and clean it up.
“We reported it to both B. C. Ferries and the Coast Guard and I know the Coast Guard did not deploy anyone to go clean it up,” said Picard.
Bob Hill, chief councilor of the Gitga’at council, said that while they do have boom material that could be used to contain a fuel leak, the tiny community does not currently have the large vessel needed on stand-by to deploy the booms.
It’s something they are trying to address with either Burrard Clean or a local seiner.
“We are right at the peak of harvesting our food, exercising our aboriginal rights and ensuring we have enough traditional foods that we have always harvested,” said Bob Hill, chief councilor of Gitga’at band council.
While they have harvested seaweed without problems, they will be staying away from all shellfish, he said.
“We are concerned at the end of the day we may end with some contaminated traditional foods. We do not know the amount, all we know is the size of the upwelling… and it was drifting towards Muddy Point, one of the traditional areas we use for harvesting and fishing.”
B. C. Ferries responded to the reports of a sighting by sending up its director of environment and a representative from Burrard Clean, an oil spill response company.
But by Saturday, much of the first slick had dispersed.
“It (the fuel) didn’t have any rainbow colours in it, which would indicate it would be a very light concentration,” said Deborah Marshall. B. C. Ferries spokesperson. “It was too light of a concentration to sample.”
The wreck has been leaking one quarter to one half a litre of fuel a day.
“That’s been happening for quite some time,” she said.
The company is not planning to take any further action because it does not expect the fuel to hit any shorelines.
Marshall said B. C. Ferries has trained 10 of the community members to deploy boom equipment if there is an upwelling. Following boom deployment, Burrard Clean is brought in to continue the clean-up.
“What we are going to do this summer is arrange for refresher training. We are also going to do an oil spill exercise with the representatives from Hartley Bay,” she said.
The 180 member Gitga’at community has been lobbying for removal of any remaining fuel from the ferry which sank in March 2006 after hitting Gil Island.
The ferry, which was heading south from Prince Rupert at the time, held 220,000 litres of diesel, 20,000 litres of light oil and 220 litres of hydraulic oil when it was fully loaded.
There were also 16 vehicles aboard when it sank.
It is unknown how much of the liquids remain in the wreck. Conservative estimates suggest there could be 150,000 litres left in the vessel – although the figure is the subject of debate.
The company has no plans to try and remove any remaining fuel from the sunken vessel.
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