Executives at Shell Oil and the Emerald Bay Marina in Exuma confirmed to Eyewitness News Wednesday, that the diesel oil spill which leaked into waters at the Emerald Bay Marina on Monday, had been completely remediated.
Approximately 3,800 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from two diesel tanks into the marina, according to authorities.
One of the tanks belongs to Shell Oil, officials said, while the second tank is owned by the Emerald Bay Marina.
Officials from both companies declined confirming whether the leaks were coincidental or linked.
Eyewitness News spoke with Eric Carey, executive director of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) Wednesday, who revealed that the oil spill should not pose any grave threat to the environment.
“Diesel is usually an easier substance to clean up when an oil spill occurs, so the only damage that you might see is that some fish which might have been in the area at the time of the spill might have been contaminated and killed,” he said.
Local fishermen on Exuma who said they were unware that an oil spill occurred on the island, expressed concern that nothing had been said to them to warn of the possible dangers which could affect their livelihood.
“We haven’t heard anything about an oil spill here. It would be unfortunate if that did happen because that means it would affect the fish in the area and that would not be good for our business,” said Nolan Curry.
“We have seen how oil spills have affected the united States and to image that an oil spill happened here and we have heard nothing about it; I just hope that it wasn’t too bad where it would have affected the fish in our area,” said Stanford Collie, another local fishermen.
Shell Oil and Emerald Bay Marina have said publicly that a press statement will be issued on the oil spill by the end of the week.
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