TENS of thousands of litres of liquid was recovered overnight as the major Poole Harbour oil spill clean-up operation continues.
Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC) has said that “good progress has been made” in the operation to rid the water of oil, following the leak on Sunday, March 26.
Despite low clouds restricting visibility, aircraft surveillance continued on Thursday, March 30, and drones continue to be used – with a total of 327 survey reports made thus far.
A further 31,000 litres of liquid has been recovered overnight. Four containment booms are in place along with absorbent booms and this is proving effective at containing oil that leaked into the Harbour on Sunday.
PHC said: “[We] continue to work continuously with an environmental team including the Environment Agency and Natural England in order to agree the most effective strategy to deal with the incident and additional manpower from Oil Spill Pollution companies has been assigned to the operation.
“There are few areas in the harbour that have a light sheen which where possible can be absorbed or will naturally disperse, and any sightings should be reported to harbour control on 01202 440 230.”
The main focus for the operation remains around the site of the leak in Ower Bay, however clean up teams are being sent to other parts of the Harbour as and when oil is identified.
Key stakeholders in the shellfish industry have been advised not to market shellfish harvested from Poole Harbour from March 26 onwards.
This advice will remain in place until further assessment has been made and advice has been received from the Food Standards Agency and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science regarding safety. Testing has taken place and investigations are continuing at this time.
The UK Health Security Agency has asked that that people avoid using the beaches and water in the Poole Harbour area for any recreational use until further updates become available.
PHC added: “We continue to ask that members of the public do not try and help with the clean-up at Poole Harbour, specialist trained teams are working hard on the ground.”
Wytch Farm operator Perenco has temporarily ceased operations.
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