Oil slick source sought in port

Press, 3 December 1987, Page 14

Oil slick source sought in port

PA Tauranga The Bay of Plenty Harbour Board is taking samples of oil from vessels in the port of Tauranga in a bid to find the ship responsible for discharging an oil slick yesterday. A large slick of heavy oil washed ashore at Pilot Bay overnight and round the jetty and tug berths at the northern end of the Mount Maunganui wharf. Harbour Board staff said judging by the size of the slick washed ashore, a considerable quantity of

oil was involved. They believe a ship in port pumped out bilges overnight. The harbourmaster, Captain Derek Sayle, said it was the board’s policy to prosecute those responsible for any discharge of oil into the harbour where a prima facie case existed. “Samples of oil are being taken from all the vessels in port,” he said. "These will be compared with samples taken from the spillage by an industrial chemist. It

could take him about a week to come up with results, then we will have to go through the laborious exercise of waiting to take them to court.” Under the Marine Pollution Act an offender convicted of an oil spill in a waterway is liable to a fine up to $lOO,OOO. The offender also has to pay the costs of the clean-up. Tonnes of contaminated sand on the beach at Pilot Bay were scraped into rows by grader, and frontend loaders were used to load the sand into trucks.