The team from Chichester Harbour Conservancy recently had to recover three discarded oil barrels from the harbour and shoreline.
The large, 200 litre barrels were filled with used engine oil; one was recovered from the water and was leaking a small amount of oil. The spill was contained by the Chichester Harbour Conservancy team. The other two were recovered from the saltmarsh, all three in the Fishbourne Channel in the vicinity of Dell Quay.
Jo Cox, Harbour Master commented:
“This was a potentially serious incident and would have caused significant environmental damage should the oil have spilled into the protected harbour habitats. Correct procedures should be followed by individual boat users as well as commercial operators for disposing of all waste in a marine environment.”
The incident was reported to the Environment Agency. Failing to dispose properly of commercial waste like this can result in significant fines.
For individual boat users, Chichester Harbour Conservancy has oil disposal facilities at Itchenor. More details about this and other waste disposal facilities around the harbour can be found here.
If you have any information about the source of the oil barrels, please get in touch.
