![]() ![]() Jack said that this process was closely watched for environmental impacts. Oil was then removed from the water and taken to a regulated disposal facility. With drainage valves and hoses secured to the tanks, in June hot water was injected to liquefy the heavy oil and allow it to be pumped to the coast guard’s Atlantic Condor ship on the surface. In the spring holes in four fuel tanks were patched with rubber mats and magnets. “It wasn’t until December that we started to see a larger amount of release of upwelling on the surface…we went back and discovered the actual wreck itself.”īooms were quickly spread to contain the oily sheen as the departments involved determined how to stop the slow leak. “With the anecdotal information we have, every once in a while there were some small releases that were reported,” he said. It’s unknown how much oil has leaked from the shipwreck since it sank in 1968, said Greg Walker, the effort’s federal incident commander, although a noticeably consistent stream was wasn’t detected until recently. “My assessment is that everything went well. “We set out directives for what the operation was going to do every day,” said Jack, who serves as incident commander for the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation. Under the coordination of the Canadian Coast Guard, the seven-month containment and recovery effort involved multiple government departments and private companies, with federal, provincial and First Nation incident commands. “I lived here in ’68 and I don’t even recall my dad talking about a shipwreck that happened at Bligh Island.” “It was a surprise for us for it to start leaking,” he said. Then approximately a decade ago the vessel slid further down the reef, rolling upside down to rest east of Bligh Island, according to a technical assessment conducted during the recent recovery effort.Ĭhief Jerry Jack of the local Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation said the oil leak was unexpected. Loaded with approximately 1,000 imperial tons of grain and pulp, the ship originally sank 33 metres down on the south side of Bligh Island, which is east of Nootka Island. 3, 1968 when the vessel hit a reef after leaving Gold River. It took over half a century for a consistent stream of oil sheen to be noticeable above the shipwreck, which sank on Jan. Another 48,511 kilograms of oil and oily waste was recovered from the surrounding environment since the leak was first detected by a Fisheries and Oceans Canada surveillance flight early December. Over the span of two weeks, 60 tonnes of heavy oil and diesel was removed from the Schiedyk, which lies 120 metres underwater by Bligh Island in Nootka Sound. On Monday, July 12 Fisheries and Oceans Canada reported that the underwater pumping of bulk oil and diesel from the vessel was completed by the end of June. Nootka Sound, BC - With oil now removed from the MV Schiedyk, the remediation effort around the 52-year-old shipwreck now turns to examining aquatic life in the area. ![]()
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