By Alastair Bull
Fuel has stopped leaking from a fishing trawler tied up at Lyttelton Harbour after spilling up to 150 litres of diesel which has now mostly been removed.
Fuel began leaking about 7:30am from the Ocean Breeze, a 60m fishing vessel which caught fire at the port in August.
Clean-up teams contracted to the ship and from Environment Canterbury spent much of the day trying to extract the diesel and there wasn't much left by mid-afternoon, Environment Canterbury regional on-scene commander Jim Dilley said.
He said they were helped in their clean-up because the fuel was diesel, which tends to evaporate, something aided by a warm day.
"It's still oil, it's still nasty stuff, but it's easier to deal with. It doesn't stick to everything like a black oil does," he said.
Floating barriers called booms – some absorbent, some not – were put in the water to clean up the fuel, and the diesel was drained from the ship's tank to stop further leaking.
Mr Dilley said between 100 and 150 litres of diesel was spilled, most of which was cleaned up by 2pm.
"There's still a little bit of it about, and we'll continue to monitor it to make sure it disperses and doesn't cause any issue."
He said there was little birdlife in the area bar seagulls, which were unlikely to be affected.
"Seagulls are pretty canny devils. They know when there's something wrong."
NZN