Cleanup continues on marina spill

The Canadian Coast Guard is still figuring out what to do with a 45-foot sailboat that sank near Oak Bay Marina on Monday, spilling diesel into the bay.

The agency said Tuesday that it’s looking for a contractor to possibly remove the Salla Rosa or any pollutants.

“An accurate assessment of the quantity of pollutants onboard has not yet been determined,” Michelle Imbeau, a communications adviser to the Coast Guard, said in a statement.

C-Tow Victoria, which is assisting with the clean-up, was back at the bay Tuesday with specialists from Coast Guard Environmental Response.

The crews replaced saturated absorbent booms and installed others to capture any diesel leaking from the boat.

“There’s new booms in place and very little diesel coming out at this point,” said C-Tow owner Tim Johnston.

The wind dispersed some of the diesel around the marina, but Johnston said he expects that to evaporate. “It just evaporates slower when there’s colder weather like this.”

He said there are tentative plans to remove the boat using a crane and barge, possibly this week. “If they do go that route … it will be quite a spectacular sight, because it’s a big boat down there.”

He said that it will be a tight squeeze to insert a barge and crane amidst the fuel dock, marina and all the other boats.

The coast guard said it was alerted to the sinking about 11 a.m. Monday. No one was on board at the time.