Shipping company, federal agencies complete Nunavik fuel spill clean up

Crews look for traces of fuel along Salluit’s breakwater last week following a fuel spill from a commercial tanker offloading to the Nunavik community. (PHOTO COURTESY OF PAULUSIE SAVIADJUK)

Transport Desgagnés, the Arctic shipping company whose tanker spilled fuel in the waters outside of Salluit last week, has completed its cleanup, recovering between 2,500 and 3,000 litres of fuel over the weekend.

A Transport Desgagnés crew was offloading fuel from its tanker M/T Sarah Oct. 7 when winds suddenly picked up, causing the line to hit vessel’s propeller and leak fuel into Salluit Bay.

The recovered diesel fuel was either trapped in segments of floating hose, or captured in booms and skimmed from the surface of the water near the community’s breakwater, said Desgagnés’ president, Serge Le Guellec.

“At the end, we believe that very little [fuel] remained in the water,” Le Guellec said. “It will have dissolved in the air and the water column by now.”

A Canadian Coast Guard crew aboard the CCGS Terry Fox, which assisted with the on-site cleanup, estimated the overall spill at 3,000 litres, a spokesperson said Oct. 13.

Both the Terry Fox and M/T Sarah left Salluit Oct. 12, although the Kativik Regional Government will continue to monitor for residual fuel in the area, the Coast Guard said.

Municipal officials first noticed the problem late Oct. 7, when residents smelled the strong odour of diesel down by Salluit’s shoreline and beach area.

No traces of diesel were found along the community’s shoreline, although the Northern Village warned residents to stay away from the area.

The federal department of Fisheries and Oceans initially issued a ban on harvesting in Salluit bay Oct. 9, but lifted that ban in part Oct. 13. The area continues to be closed to shellfish harvest, DFO said.