ROBSON BIGHT - It’s been called weeks or even months overdue by environmentalists, but Wednesday a manned submersible dove hundreds of metres beneath the Robson Bight ecological reserve to survey the wreckage on the ocean floor. Nearly four months have passed since a barge spilled logging equipment, some full of diesel fuel, into the killer whale sanctuary.
The spill dissipated, but there’s been no way of knowing what else might be about to bubble to the surface, until now – a $158,000 joint effort by the BC Ministry of Environment and Canadian Coast Guard.
A manned submersible aboard the Aurora Explorer freight vessel is lowered into the water above five targets that have been identified as possible wreckage. Pilot Jeff Heaton will descend 370 metres and document what’s left of the logging equipment with a high-definition camera…and hopefully provide answers.
Jim Borrowman, a volunteer Warden of the reserve believes the best possible scenario is the fuel truck at the bottom of the ocean is empty now, with no diesel left in it to do any more damage. On the other hand, points out Dorthea Hangaard of the Living Oceans Society, if there is still a substantial amount of fuel involved, it could also be sucked out without lifting the equipment to the surface.
The area is a popular killer whale habitat, and while the dive was going on Wednesday morning, a group of transient orcas swam nearby – supervising the activity in their “home.” Dives are planned for 2-3 days, depending on the weather, then the footage shot by the submersible will be analyzed, and a next step in the investigation formulated.
