Saturday, July 6, 1996

On Saturday, July 6, 1996, the fishing vessel, RDR Enterprise, a 45 foot longliner, sank in 10 meters of water near Green Island, Witless Bay, NF, leaving the mast and radio antennae remaining above water. Tour boat operators in the area reported an oil sheen in and around Green Island on Saturday.

Green Island is a part of the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, which is home to a number of species of seabirds. There are an estimated 80,000 pairs of nesting common Murres, plus other species such as Puffins and Kittiwakes. Murre fledglings were expected to leave their nests any day. Concern existed for these flightless birds, primarily from loss of insulation provided from feathers, if oiled. Water temperatures ranged about 10°C.

The vessel skipper estimated that 150 gallons of diesel remained on board. The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG), as lead agency under the Canada Shipping Act, advised the vessel owner that the pollution threat must be removed from the area. The vessel owner signed an abandonment agreement with its insurance agent, Fairway Insurance, Liverpool, N.S, represented in Newfoundland by Tri Nav Consultants.

The insurance agent and the salvage contractor, Poseidon Marine Consultants, in consultation with CCG and Environment Canada (EC), considered several recovery options. These options included the following:

• Removing the vessel from the area and transporting it to another community. This option was not viable, because the nearest community was in excess of 5 km away and would likely put too much stress on the vessel's hull. Should the hull break apart inside the islands, it may have posed a threat to navigation in an area with a high volume of boat traffic, as well as productive lobster and crab fishing grounds. The neighbouring communities of Witless Bay and Bay Bulls have recreational sea trout fishing, cod fish farms, tour boat operations, as well as underwater archaeological sites. Major economic benefits are generated locally through whale and seabird watching tours.
• Removal by crane barge; however, no barge was available. As well, the structural integrity of the vessel was unknown. It was felt that removal from the water may result in the vessel's break up, with the resulting loss of the remaining fuel.
• Removal by a larger vessel; however, the depth of the water and the rock outcrops made large vessel operations risky.

The favoured option was to lift the vessel, move it to a deeper water site, and allow it to sink where the potential for harm was minimized. A number of considerations factored into this course of action, including the risk to the environmental sensitivities related earlier (i.e. birds, economics of the area).

Removing oil from the vessel was to be attempted, if safe to do so. A portion of the oil was recovered by stuffing sorbent materials into accessible spaces in the vessel, such as the wheelhouse. Other considerations included potential for oil spillage at Green Island.

Weather at the site included winds of 20-25 knots on Saturday, southwesterly, diminishing to 15-20 until Saturday evening. Remnants of Hurricane Bertha were expected to be felt on Sunday, July 14/96, with strong SW/SE winds and heavy rain.

Tuesday, July 9/96

The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) of Environment Canada and CCG inspected the area on Tuesday, July 9/96, reporting little or no sheen from the vessel. After inspection, the Canadian Coast Guard reported that the vessel may have moved from its original point of grounding, although the movement was not substantial.

Friday, July 12/96

The vessel representatives retained a salvage consultant, a diving team and a spill response organization to support the response effort.

The recovery operation commenced at 0400 hours today but was postponed by CCG following advice from the diving team that conditions at the vessel location were hazardous to the dive crew. An attempt will be made again tomorrow, Saturday, July 13/96, to recover the vessel and move it to a deeper water location where potential damage to the seabirds on Green Island and surrounding area will be minimized.

Weather forecasts for the area call for 15-20 K winds throughout Saturday. Effects of Hurricane Bertha are expected to be felt in the area on Sunday, July 14/96. If the operation is scrubbed for tomorrow, it may be early next week before another attempt can be made. It is possible that heavy seas and winds may break up the vessel. Heavy seas will contribute to natural dispersion of any remaining oil that may leak from the vessel.

The vessel owner has signed an "abandonment notice" and the vessel is now the responsibility of the insurer, who are represented locally by Tri Nav Consultants. Also providing advice to the responsible party include Poseidon Marine Consultants, and with legal advice from Stewart McKelvey. Diving operations are being conducted by ProDive Ltd. Pollution countermeasures are being provided by Eastern Canada Response Corporation. Backup pollution countermeasures are being provided by CCG.

A number of options were contemplated for this operation; the preferred choice consists of the following elements:

• strap vessel to stabilize the hull.
• use drums to act as floatation for the vessel.
• tow vessel to a deeper water location, approximately 12-1400 meters east of Green Island.
• attempts will be made to remove the remaining fuel from the vessel after it has been lifted away from the current sensitive location, but only if safe to do so. Any vents that were not previously plugged will be plugged.
• sink the vessel at the deeper water location.

While actions related to removing the pollution threat are under the Canada Shipping Act, the disposal of the vessel at a deeper water location has implications under the Ocean Dumping Regulations of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), administered by Environment Canada. Given the circumstances of this incident (i.e. protecting the very sensitive seabirds of Green Island; and the logistic, environmental and safety considerations), dumping the vessel for emergency purposes appears valid.

Environment Canada will have observers on site throughout the operation.

Saturday, July 13/96

An attempt was made to float the vessel on July 13/96. Weather on site was near ideal for both diving operations and planned lift. Diving operations commenced at 0530 hours and involved fixing eight 200 gallon floatation tanks to the vessel. The operation took approximately 12 hours.

The tanks were evacuated and filled with air; the vessel bow lifted off the bottom but it appeared that the cargo, approximately 10,000 lbs. of crab, shifted to the stern, so the stern could not be floated. An additional two floatation bags were added but also failed to lift the vessel.

Additional debris was removed from the vessel including two 5 gallon buckets of engine oil. Some of the crab cargo was removed, as well as miscellaneous debris.

During the attempted lift, some oil was displaced from the vessel. A 36" flexiboom, as well as sorbent boom, had been deployed in anticipation of the lift. Some oil sheen, in places heavy, was observed outside the boom. A Boston whaler was driven through the sheen to aid natural dispersion; it appeared to have a positive effect. At the conclusion of the day's activities, no oil was seen leaking from the wreck. While extremely difficult to estimate quantity, the sheen thickness and coverage would suggest 5-20 gallons of diesel mixed with hydraulic oil was released.

While the seabirds of the area generally avoided the operational area, some birds were observed in the vicinity of the sheen. Determination of actual seabird oiling was attempted but could not be confirmed.

A meeting was held on-site with affected parties at 2130 hours; no further attempt at lifting the vessel could be made today. It was agreed that the lift plan needed re-evaluation. The salvor reserved definitive comment, but offered that a combination of removal of more crab cargo as well as additional buoyancy may lift the vessel. It was also agreed that the diving/salvage team was exhausted and would require a day to recover and prepare for further work.

Additionally, the arrival of Bertha, now downgraded to a tropical storm, tomorrow afternoon would likely preclude any serious effort until Tuesday, July 16/96. All parties agreed to meet Monday, July 15/96, to discuss further strategy.

Monday, July 15/96

No recovery operations could be attempted as of the end of July 15. Site specific weather effects from tropical storm Bertha were minimal. The vessel was inspected this morning by both CCG and CWS personnel. The vessel is intact and has not moved from its previous location as a result of the weekend storm. The weather forecast is good for Tuesday, July 16/96, but high winds are predicted from Wednesday, July 17, to Friday, July 19/96.

EC, CCG and representatives from the vessel met to discuss further options to deal with the incident. EC indicated that concern for the seabirds of Green Island is still the highest priority and efforts should continue to mitigate damage from oil pollution. Poseidon Consultants, the salvage consultant, and Pro Dive agreed that the lifting operation was still the most viable option including disposal at a deeper water location; EC and CCG are in agreement.

The diving contractor felt that the refloating operation would require added buoyancy at the stern and that special pontoons would need to be fabricated that could be affixed to the deck. The pontoons would be deballasted to raise the wreck. Further consideration would be given to voiding the tanks of fuel product, if accessible and feasible.

CWS conducted shoreline surveys for affected seabirds. Two seagulls were observed near the fish processing plant in Witless Bay exhibiting behavior indicative of oiling, i.e. excessive preening.

During the planned lift operation, consideration was given to using a small quantity of the dispersant, Corexit 9527, to be applied from a backpack sprayer to fugitive slicks that escape the containment boom. During the July 13 attempted lift, some Murre chicks and adults were seen in the vicinity of the oil sheen. CCG has a quantity of the dispersant in stock. EC is soliciting opinions from REET team members, including the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) , the provincial environment department, and EC Emergencies Science Division, River Road, Ottawa.

Tuesday, July 16/96

Poseidon Marine Consultants (representatives for Shipowners Mutual P&I, Luxembourg) and the diving contractor were on site July 16 and placed sorbent boom inside the cargo hold and engine room in an effort to absorb trapped oil. Some sheen was observed coming from the vessel.

Friday, July 19/96

Weather and sea state are preventing attempts to refloat the sunken fishing vessel.

Diving efforts to remove deck rigging and other miscellaneous items continued on July 19; however, the operation has not been successful due to excessive swell at the wreck, making diving conditions hazardous. Preliminary estimates still indicate that 1 or 2 full days of diving will be required to prepare the vessel for a lift attempt. Weather forecasts are not encouraging, with expectations for strong to gale force southeasterlies forecast for the weekend and Monday. If the forecast holds, further diving operations may not continue until Tuesday at the earliest.

During the planned lift operation, consideration has been given to using a small quantity of Corexit 9527, to be applied from a backpack sprayer to fugitive oil slicks that escape the containment boom. To date, concurrence has been received from EC Emergencies Science Division, DFO, CWS, and the provincial environment department. A reply from Newfoundland Tourism, Culture and Recreation, which has legislated responsibility for the ecological reserve, has yet to be received. EC has evaluated the effectiveness of Corexit 9527 as it relates to this situation and have recommended its usage to REET members. EC has prepared a draft set of guidelines for dispersant use, including the provision of an observer to verify the effectiveness of the dispersant.

An Ocean Dumping application has been received by Environment Canada from the salvage contractor, Poseidon Marine Consultants. The application will be processed as quickly as possible. EC and CCG have consulted with several stakeholders in the area such as tour boat operators and fishermen as well as other government departments. A site has been selected one nautical mile east of Green Island; water depth at the site is an estimated 104 meters.

Monitoring of the site will continue.

Friday, July 26/96

Salvage and removal operations have been completed. Sea state conditions were safe for diving to proceed on Wednesday, July 24 and Thursday, July 25. It was originally hoped that preparing the vessel to lift, lifting and tow to deeper water for disposal could be completed in one day but this was not possible. Three tanks, 1000-1500 gallons each, were secured to the vessel on Wednesday, July 24. Diving operations commenced at approximately 0530 hours and continued until near darkness at 1900 hours. Diving operations resumed at 0900 Thursday, July 25; the floatation tanks were filled with air and capped, which resulted in successfully refloating the vessel.

Little oil was released from the vessel during the lift. Eastern Canada Response Corp were on site providing pollution countermeasures. A 36" flexiboom, sorbent boom and padding were used to recover any oil that escaped the vessel. While difficult to quantify, the total volume release during the lift and tow was likely not in excess of 5-10 gallons.

A few patches of oil sheen did escape the boom. Approval had been issued for the use of the dispersant, Corexit 9527, following input from other government agencies including CCG, ECB, DFO, NF DOE, NF Tourism, Culture and Recreation. The dispersant was applied to a small area of the slick and mixing energy was added with the props of the Boston whaler; however, this action failed to disperse the oil. The ineffectiveness of the dispersant may have been caused by the type of oil (it appeared to be lube or waste oil, possibly from the engine room) or the oil may have emulsified - the vessel had been under the water for 20 days.

The RDR Enterprise was towed by a tug to a deeper water location. During the tow, little or no oil was observed trailing the vessel. ECRC provided booming in case of oil release. A small amount of wood debris broke away from the vessel but was recovered.

The tow was stopped after four hours when the tow line broke away from the vessel. It was also determined that some of the ropes on the lift tanks had released. The vessel was scuttled and allowed to sink at approximately 1730 hours, at position 47.12.98'N 43.68'W, in approximately 170 meters of water. An Ocean Dumping permit had been issued for the vessel disposal. Efforts had been made to remove as much oil as possible from the vessel - no oil sheen was visible during the sinking. The site was selected in consultations with local fishermen, DFO and CCG.

CWS and CCG monitored the area again on July 26/96. That morning, a local tour boat operator reported an estimated 100 dead Murre chicks in the water around Green Island. CWS followed up a similar report on Saturday, July 20. At that time, approximately 100 dead Murre chicks as well as a number of adults were found dead on Green Island. The cause of death was not readily apparent but may have been due to predation by other seabirds such as herring gulls. There was no evidence of oil contamination on the recovered Murres.