Panel data provided by Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter.

Fuel Leak From Sunken Ferry Slowing

By 250 News

Queen of the North wreckage site. Black lines indicate location of diesel sheen on the surface of the water. Blue lines labelled "boom" indicate protecting booming around identified environmentally sensitive sites. Mauve areas indicate local FIrst Nations Reserve lands. (map courtesy B.C. Ministry of Envrionment) 


It has been a busy weekend for crews working on solving the puzzle of the sinking of the Queen of the North.

First, there has been no sign of the missing 100 Mile House couple, Gerald Foisey and Shirley Rosette.  They are beleived to have gone down with the ship.

Secondly, It wasn't mechanical failure that caused the Queen of the North to be off course, slam into Gil Island and then sink. That is the word from the Transportation Safety Board, but that is about all the Transportation Safety Board is willing to say at this time.

One of two submersibles has surveyed the wreckage site, and taken planty of pictures, but those pictures and the information they reveal , will be sent back to Ottawa for analysis by the T.S.B.'s marine team. When, of if, those photos will ever be released is not clear. The survey by the subs was designed to see if the leaks can be plugged.

Meantime, the clean up continues.

The Province's Ministry of Environment Incident Command Team member, Andy Ackerman, says the clean up effort is a joint effort involving BC Ferries, Burrard Clean, Environment Canada, Ministry of Environment and First Nations, all working in partnership with the Coast Guard

The fuel is continuing to break up. Instead of large blocks of sheening fuel it's continuing to break up into long streaks.
Ackerman says data collected suggests the Coast Guard's observations are correct, the amount of diesel fuel leaking is slowing down.

The measures already taken include setting up thousands of feet of booming to protect sensitive areas:
Two on Gil Island
One at Kulkayu
One at Crane Bay to protect a clam site, and one at Hawk Bay
There is also a u-shaped boom at the shipwreck site.

Ackerman says the layer of fuel is so thin, skimmers can't pick it up, plus the wind keeps whipping it around, changing the areas that need to be re-boomed "Today we will start by doing two or three flights over the area to see where the sheen has moved, then we will spend the day deploying or re-deploying booms" says Ackerman.

First Nations people have been very involved in the process. Ackerman says they have been working with the Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Team (SCAT)in providing valuable information about the species native to the region, and in clean up efforts at field level.

So far, there has been no sign of any wildlife being impacted, but a recovery plan has been put in place.

How long will it take for Mother Nature to clean the area? "That is a very good question" says Ackermann, "All we know at this point is that mother Nature is very very unpredictable. However, the Province is committed to making sure it all gets cleaned."







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