WATCH ABOVE: Latest update from the Coast Guard on the English Bay fuel spill.
VANCOUVER – Wednesday will mark one week since fuel was first spotted in English Bay.
Hundreds of litres of bunker fuel leaked from the vessel Marathassa into the water, but officials working to clean up the spill now say it may be days, or possibly weeks, before they know exactly how much leaked from the vessel.
On Tuesday, Commissioner Jody Thomas from the Canadian Coast Guard, said “90 per cent of the job is done.”
“I would also like to remind everyone that the Coast Guard took immediate leadership as soon as the initial report was received and focused all efforts on removing any pollutants from the water,” she added.
Before most Vancouverites were even awake on Thursday morning, Thomas said the spill was contained and 80 per cent was recovered.
She said crews worked through the night.
“Our response was exceptional,” added Thomas.
Today’s priorities are shoreline clean-up, ongoing work with the Marathassa’s owners, and if conditions permit, dive operations will continue.
It is unknown when the beaches will reopen and the public is still being asked to stay away from the English Bay shore and water, including Sunset, Second, Third and English Bay beaches.
There has been some criticism about how the Coast Guard handled the spill, however.
City manager Penny Ballem said the city must look at international standards before judging whether the response was quick enough. But she voiced strong concerns about how long it took for information to be relayed to the public — including 48 hours to identify the substance as toxic bunker fuel.
She added the coast guard only called Vancouver police at 9:53 p.m. to see if the department had heard any additional reports of an oil spill — which it had not.
Ballem’s report also said an oil-absorbing boom was secured around the vessel at 5:53 a.m. Thursday, in contrast with the coast guard’s previous statements that the boom was in place by midnight.
While Thomas estimated that 90 per cent of the spill has been cleaned up, Ballem said the city has no way to verify that figure.
“What I understand from scientists is that it would be extraordinary to recover 80 per cent in a spill like this,” Ballem said.
The coast guard’s estimate of 2,700 litres of fuel that was leaked is likely to rise to as high as 5,000 litres, Ballem said.
WATCH: Coast Guard acknowledge communications breakdown in English Bay oil spill:
The union representing Coast Guard workers says imminent cuts to communication centres along the B.C. coast could cause disastrous consequences in managing oil spills.
The Coast Guard plans to close three of five marine communication centres in Ucluelet, Vancouver and Comox before next year.
“What’s more concerning with the spill in English Bay that happened last week, the alerting centre that’s in Vancouver.. they fan out the distribution of notifications to environmental response, Environment Canada and other government agencies, that’s closing and there is no intention to replace it,” said Allan Hughes, the western regional director for Unifor Local 2182. “So there is no software, system or people that are going to do that alerting anymore.”
WATCH: Allan Hughes from Unifor Local 2182 speaks about the imminent cuts:
WATCH: Former Commander of Kitsilano Coast Guard base speaks out:
-with files from Canadian Press
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