Posted: 27 February 2006
Tutukaka oil ‘spill’ to test recovery team
About 15 people are expected to deal with a fictional oil spill at Tutukaka next month as Northland’s marine oil spill response experts put their skills to the test.
About 15 people are expected to deal with a fictional oil spill at Tutukaka next month as Northland’s marine oil spill response experts put their skills to the test.
James Harvey, a Maritime Officer with the Northland Regional Council, says the low-key Wednesday 22 March exercise will be the first marina-based exercise since 2003.
The incident will involve more than a dozen Whangarei and Bay of Islands-based Regional Council staff, as well as representatives from the Tutukaka Marina and Maritime New Zealand.
Mr Harvey says the exercise will involve a fictional 50-litre oil spill spotted floating inside the Tutukaka Marina complex, with the response centring on preventing the “slick” from travelling up a nearby creek on an incoming tide and escaping out into the harbour on the outgoing tide.
Specialised oil spill containment and recovery equipment – including booms, a skimmer and a frame tank – will be used during the day-long exercise, which will get underway at 8am.
The boom equipment is used to contain and deflect slicks, the skimmer to collect oil and the 15,000-litre frame tank to temporarily hold contaminated seawater.
Mr Harvey says Regional Council staff typically deal with a marine oil spill every week to 10 days, most of them caused by poor use of marine refueling facilities or illegal discharges of contaminated bilge water.
“Equipment deployment exercises are held about once or twice a year and are a valuable way to both hone existing skills and to keep our team familiar with the use of response equipment.”