New Sightings of Oil from North Coast Shipwreck have Coast Guard, partners charting plan of action

The Canadian Coast Guard has outlined its plans towards recently spotted
oil discharges from a 1946 shipwreck near Hartley Bay

The Canadian Coast Guard has provided an  update on some traces of oil found near the site of the USAT Brigadier General MG Zalinksi shipwreck on the North Coast.

It's an area of their operations from 2013 where they and a number of stakeholders and partners had launched an operation to try to remove as much oil as they could.

As they noted on Thursday in a Social Media piece, some small amounts of oil have again been observed near the wreck, the Coast Guard observing the oil likely coming from a number of fuel tanks that were inaccessible at the time.

They outline that with the slow but consistent release of  the drops of oil into the marine environment, they have Stood Up and Emergency Coordination Centre.

The Canadian Coast Guard is working with the Gitga'at Nation, Gitxaala First Nation, DFO Pacific and technical specialists with Environment Canada towards working on their next steps towards the situation.

Drops of oil from a 1946 shipwreck near Hartley Bay have once
again been spotted by the Canadian Coast Guard

The vessel sank after hitting rocks near Pitt Island, north of HartleyBay in September of 1946 following a particularly nasty storm in the region. 

This CBC story from 2013 provides a look at the work taken to that time towards containing the oil in the vessel.

The work of the Coast Guard at the time was the subject of a presentation to Prince Rupert City Council, as Coast Guard officials outlined their plan of attack to the challenge back in 2013.

You can review the Canadian Coast Guard background piece from Thursday here, which includes additional photos of the site in question.

The Gitga'at Nation and Gitxaala First Nation have yet to issue any comments on the situation.

More notes on the work of Emergency Responders along the North Coast can be reviewed from our archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.