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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: June 10, 2015 3:18:38 PM PDT

Local Fishing Vessels Part of the Refugio Spill Response

A vessel that assisted in the Refugio incident is removed from the water for thorough cleaning at the Ventura Harbor Boat decontamination June 7, 2015. The tar on the vessels is very hard and some of it must be heated in order to make it removable. (Photo courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife)

Equipment used in the Refugio oil spill response is transported to the T&T yard for proper cleaning where crews in proper personnel protective equipment scrub and remove the tar. The tar on the equipment is very hard and some of it must be heated in order to make it removable. (Photo courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife)

Local Santa Barbara area fishing vessels participated in the Refugio oil spill response pulling boom and collecting oil. The five vessels are part of the Fort fleet, and joined the response through the Clean Seas vessels of opportunity program. Clean Seas is a local oil spill response organization

for Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Clean Seas has offered this opportunity to fishing vessel owners and operators for decades. Vessel owners sign up with Clean Seas prior to an event happening. Clean Seas pays for the vessel crew to receive the state-required 24 hour Hazardous Waste Emergency Operations Response (HAZWOPER) Training, and then provides them with training on deploying boom and collecting oil.

To be able to respond, the vessel crew must maintain their certification so Clean Seas pays for the annual 8-hour HAZWOPER refresher as well as exercises to practice deploying boom so the crew can maintain their skills.

When the on-water activities suspended, the local fishing vessels were sent to Port Hueneme to have the equipment removed from their vessels. The vessels then transited to the Ventura Boat Harbor Yard where they were removed from the Equipment like boom and skimmers are removed from the vessels for cleaning at the at the Ventura Harbor Boat decontamination June 7, 2015. (Photo courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife)water,  and placed into a containment area designed and built for the decontamination process. 

The vessels will be cleaned of any contamination on the exterior as well as the interior of the vessel before being returned to the water, including cleaning of the hulls, decks, engine rooms, and recovered oil collection tanks as well as any incidental contamination that is found in the companionways or common areas of the vessel.

The cleaning process includes the use of high pressure water with applied heat as well as the application of approved cleaning agents to scrubbers, scrapers and rags to implement hand detail. All of these processes are followed by a high pressure low volume fresh water rinse to ensure no residual contamination remains.

All waste and rinse solutions are collected and segregated to be quantified. The disposal of this material is then processed according to the Unified Command approved waste, recycling and disposal plan.

For more information contact:

Joint Information Center
(805) 770-3682
www.refugioresponse.com
reply@refugioresponse.com