Fact Sheet Released on SF Bay Oil Spill
The California Department of Fish & Game has released a fact sheet regarding Wednesday’s oil spill in the San Francisco Bay. The following is some important information determined from the spill.
- Estimated wildlife impacts: 21 birds collected and transported the Oiled Wildlife Care Center in Cordelia (near Fairfield)
- U.S. Coast Guard and San Francisco Police enforced a 100-foot safety zone around the vessel
- Preliminary estimation of spill quantity is approximately 58,000 gallons
- Approximately 8,000 gallons had been recovered as of 8:30 p.m. Nov. 7
- 18,000 feet of boom has been deployed in the Bay area to protect beaches and wildlife
- Oil had been reported as far as Hunters Point, east of Treasure Island and Angel Island, up through Raccoon Straits and Brook Island along the San Francisco city waterfront and past the Golden Gate Bridge and as far north as Tennessee Point in Marin County
To report oil sightings call (985) 781-0804, to report oiled wildlife call (877) 823-6926 and to submit a claim for oiled property call (888) 850-8486. For more information, visit the California Coastal Commission Web site or Earth 911’s sister site Beaches 911.
adventureimagery
posted on November 10th, 2007 at 7:14 am
Unfortunately, there is little hope for the oil covered seabirds of San Francisco Bay.
In 2002 I witnessed and produced a documentary on the Prestige oil spill in northern Spain, the worst environmental disaster in european history and bigger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Despite best efforts by SEO Birdlife workers to recover and clean the oil covered seabirds, of the thousands hand washed birds, SEO’s own studies showed that few if any survived in the months following. The estimated total of birds that died in that oil spill was over 300,000. The damage to the marine environment was incalculable as the oil was not contained and spread across thousands of kilometers of coastline from Spain to France, Portugal and the UK. The sunken hull of the Prestige continues leaking oil today from deep beneath the sea. See video clips of oil spill stock footage damage on our website at http://www.AdventureImagery.com/oil-spill, including SEO Birdlife volunteers cleaning the birds by hand.
Hopefully the recent oil spill in the San Francisco Bay area will not affect too much of the wildlife there, especially since it is my home as well. On the bright side, at least it was a small spill in comparison, spilling “only” 58,000 gallons versus 20,000,000 gallons from the Prestige. The most important factor is the containment, and it sounds like it will be controlled quickly and effectively versus the very delayed action and poor job done in Spain.