On this page: How marine oil spills happen, Cleaning up marine oil spills, What we are doing, What you can do, More information, Useful links
Marine oil spills are potential human-made hazards that threaten the coastal marine areas of the Waikato region. They can range from small spills from recreational boats to larger, more serious oil spills from commercial vessels passing through our waters.
Marine oil spills can cause serious damage to our coastal environments and the animal and plant life living in them.
Waikato Regional Council works with other agencies to prevent and plan for marine oil spills so we can minimise the impact these incidents may have on our environment.
If you spill oil anywhere in the marine environment you are responsible for:
- cleaning up the spill
- any costs involved in cleaning up the spill
- immediately notifying Waikato Regional Council's Marine Oil Spills Response Team on Waikato Regional Council's Freephone 0800 800 401 - no matter how big or small the spill is.
How marine oil spills happen
Most marine oil spills in the Waikato region are from pleasure boats refuelling at wharves, jetties, or marinas. Often they are minor and require little or no cleaning up. More serious spills could happen from large commercial vessels passing near the Coromandel Peninsula.
Diesel is the fuel most often spilt. Larger vessels that use diesel fill up while on the water. Spills are most often caused by:
- faulty dispensers or pumps
- operator inattention
- pumping contaminated bilge water overboard
- automoated bilge pumps must be turned off if there is a possibility of pumping oil-contaminated water overboard in excess of 15 parts of oil per million parts of water
- use a filter and/or oil sorbent material to remove oil from bilge water
- a leaking fuel tank
- accidents with other boats
- careless transfer of oil when using containers
- overfilling of tanks (as the fuel temnperature rises in hot weather, the fuel will expand and can be blown out of the tank breathers if insufficient expansion room is allowed).
Cleaning up marine oil spills
Under the "Maritime Transport Act 1994", Waikato Regional Council prepares for marine oil spills in its coastal marine areas and responds to them should they occur . Our coastal water quality monitoring site maps show our region’s "east" and "west" coastal marine areas.
- Marine oil spills that require a response from Waikato Regional Council are dealt with by our "Marine Oil Spills Response Team".
- Oil spills that happen in freshwater such as lakes and rivers, are responded to by our "Ready Response Team".
- However, in large spills, our marine and freshwater response teams work together with other agencies.
In New Zealand, marine oil spill response is classified into three tiers or levels as follows:
- Tier 1 - the spiller is known and is able to respond adequately to the spill. All industries with oil refuelling sites along the shoreline must have a contingency plan approved by Waikato Regional Council to deal with spills. Tier 1 operators must be able to effectively respond to an oil spill at their site.
- Tier 2 - a spill is within the council’s territorial sea boundary (less than 12 nautical miles), the spiller (if known) is unable to deal with the spill, and the council is able to adequately respond to the spill.
- Tier 3 - a spill is outside the Council’s territorial sea boundary (more than 12 nautical miles) but within the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). If the spill is beyond the resources of the Council, "Maritime New Zealand" (MNZ) is requested by the Council to take over responsibility.
What we are doing
- Waikato Regional Council has prepared a Marine Oil Spill Contingency Plan which is approved every three years by Maritime New Zealand. The plan outlines how we can:
- reduce the impacts of a marine oil spill
- help restore any damage to the environment resulting from the spill
- contain and recover marine oil spills
- protect sensitive sites.
- We also carry out regular separate and combined training exercises involving our Marine Oil Spill Response Team and our Ready Response Team.
- Under the "Maritime Transport Act 1994", Waikato Regional Council can prosecute individuals or organisations who cause a marine oil spill in our coastal marine areas. (Freshwater spills are dealt with under the Resource Management Act 1991).
What you can do
Reduce the chance of an oil spill occurring by:
- not leaving the fuel pump unattended when refuelling
- having cleanup material handy during refuelling
- regularly checking fuel lines and tanks for faults
- ensure bilges are kept as oil-free as possible, esepcially if using automated bilge-pumping systems.
If you do have a spill, make sure you report it Waikato Regional Council by calling Waikato Regional Council's Freephone 0800 800 401.
Spills less than two litres do not necessarily need to be cleaned up, but you will still need to keep a close eye on them and report them to Waikato Regional Council. Clean up or control larger spills using:
- oil absorbing material such as 'pillows' or 'pads', which can be wrung out into a container and reused
- absorbent booms
- products that break up the oil, for example, oil dispersants.
Different cleanup methods suit different situations - check with Waikato Regional Council first. You can buy oil spill cleanup material from marine hardware merchants or call Waikato Regional Council's Freephone 0800 800 401 for advice.
More information
Use our Publications pages to order a free copy of our marine oil spills pamphlet, which has further details on:
- your responsibilities
- why oil spills need to be cleaned up
- how to avoid spilling oil into the environment
- clean-up options should you spill oil
- where to get oil spill cleanup material
- who to contact if you encounter oil on the water.
The Ministry for the Environment and Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) have also produced the free pamphlet ‘Every drop counts’ which has information on preventing and cleaning up fuel and oil spills.
Useful links
- Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Group - Who to contact
- "Maritime New Zealand" (MNZ)