Bligh Island, BC, Canada, June 2021 – Bridgemans Marine Transport has successfully completed a contract assisting with Marine Personnel Transport for Phase 1 and 2 of an oil spill clean up on the West Coast of Canada.
The 483-foot MV Schiedyk cargo ship went down on Jan. 3, 1968 after striking a submerged ledge off Bligh Island, and rests about 350 feet below the surface. It has been leaking fuel and fouling areas of the Zuciarte Channel since last fall.
The assessment of the MV Schiedyk found two tanks containing heavy fuel oil — one with marine diesel oil and the other containing mixed oil products.
Government officials said recent results of a technical assessment determined that immediate action to remove bulk fuel was necessary to protect Nootka Sound, an area rich in natural beauty and in the traditional territory of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation. The federal government signed an emergency contract to pump bunker oil and mixed fuels from the sunken wreck in Nootka Sound.
Florida-based Resolve Marine Group, which has worked on multiple wrecks and cleanups — including the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico — was contracted to assess the MV Schiedyk and pump out its fuel tanks.
Bridgemans Marine Transport’s passenger vessel BridgeCat 45 was utilized to provide safe and efficient transport of marine personnel to and from the spill site.
Atlantic Condor onsite off Bligh Island, British Columbia, Canada
An oil sheen on the surface above the sunken wreck off Bligh Island. CANADIAN COAST GUARD