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Tampa Bay Open To Vessels Again After Fuel Spill

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

A fishing trawler and a barge collided Thursday night, causing a diesel fuel spill.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 13, 2009

Updated: 02/13/2009 02:28 pm

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TAMPA - Tampa Bay is now open to all boating traffic, from the upper regions to the Sunshine Skyway. The Bay had been shut down for more than 12 hours after a collision between a fishing trawler and barge spilled about 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the water.

The closure included the main shipping channel connecting the Port of Tampa to the Gulf, but the U.S. Coast Guard announced just before 10 a.m. today that it was lifting all boating restrictions imposed shortly after Thursday night's vessel collision.

The spill is not as serious as initially believed, Coast Guard Petty Officer Sondra Kay Kneen said.

After sunrise today, the portion of the Bay north of the Big Bend area had been opened to boat traffic, but vessels were not being allowed in the area of the Sunshine Skyway north to the Tampa Electric Co. power plants.

A handful of barges and ships were in a holding pattern overnight west of the Skyway, waiting to get into the port. During that time, the vessels in port were under orders to remain where they were, she said.

The Maranatha, an 80-foot-long fishing boat from Irvington, Ala., and the Coastal, a 95-foot-long barge, collided Thursday night about two miles northwest of Manbirtee Key near the Skyway, the Coast Guard said.

The collision caused a 4-by-8-inch gash in the Maranatha's starboard side fuel tank, officials said, and the leak was quickly stemmed.

The Coast Guard believes that about 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the water, but fog and darkness limited officials' ability to make an exact estimate. The tank holds about 4,000 gallons.

"The fishing vessel has been boomed," Kneen said, and that will contain any fuel that continues to spill.

A spill cleanup company that contracts with the government collected the contained fuel that was in the water, and the remaining diesel that escaped the booms is dissipating, officials said.

Diesel fuel tends to dissipate quickly in water as it warms, Kneed said, and the environmental impact of the spill likely will be negligible.

The Maranatha has been cleared to head to East Bay with a Coast Guard escort. The Coastal and the accompanying tugboat have been cleared to proceed, officials said.

The St. Petersburg-based Coast Guard cutter Hawk, a 25-foot patrol boat and a pollution abatement team were sent to the scene of the collision Thursday night. A private clean-up company has been notified, but work on cleaning the spill will have to wait until there is enough daylight and the fog lifts, Kneen said.

A Coast Guard helicopter flew over the area after sunrise, and the crew made an aerial assessment of the spill. The crew concluded that the contamination in the Bay was not as serious as initially believed, she said.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Marguerite Jordan said that three investigators with the department were at the scene earlier today.

"There is no significant environmental impact anticipated," she said. "We're still evaluating it, but it looks like between 800 and 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel was spilled, and it's rapidly dissipating."

Reporter Ted Jackovics contributed to this report.

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