U.S. Navy Ship Salvage Manual Volume 6 - Oil Spill Response

S0300-A6-MAN-0607-5.5.2 Cobbles, Pebbles and Shingles. High-pressure water can flush oil towards open waterfor collection by booms or sorbents. However, some oil remains beneath the top layers of stones.This remaining oil, difficult to remove, leaches out for long periods.The wind and waves of winter storms clean stone beaches. Protected stone beaches are not subjectto this natural cleaning action.Heavy machinery can move beach material to expose oil and facilitate cleaning. Material must behandled so clean areas are not recontaminated by new material being overturned. Properly done,this is a rapid means of cleaning. Moving beach material to a shoreline where storms clean thecontaminated material is a much slower but sometimes effective measure.7-5.5.3 Sand Beaches. Hand labor or heavy machinery, such as front-end loaders, may cleanmoderate oil contamination from sand beaches.Removing moderate contamination by hand is slow, but sometimes most efficient. People removeless material from the beach than machines do and less beach material must be replaced at the endof the cleanup.7-5.5.4 Mud. Natural recovery is recommended over mechanical removal on muddy shorelinessuch as tidal flats and wetlands. Muddy areas not only pose often insurmountable problems formachinery, but mechanical cleaning may create new channels that increase erosion and retard naturalrecovery of plants and animals.7-6 CARE OF BIRDS AND MAMMALSThe principal goal of bird and mammal cleaning is to remove oil from these animals, restore themto proper health and return them to their natural environment. The care of oiled birds and mammalsis a specialized activity that must be done by experts at a dedicated cleaning station. Oil spillcontingency plans should address bird and mammal cleaning.Oiled birds and mammals should receive humane treatment. To many persons, the quality of theoverall oil spill response is measured by the treatment given to oiled birds and mammals. Mediapersonnel often report a bird count and gather television footage of oiled animals as a news item,usually on the first day of any spill. This high visibility can be an immediate positive or negativestroke for response personnel, depending upon the care given to oiled birds and mammals. Mediarelations are discussed in Paragraph 3-5.5.Periodic overflights of the impacted area and local residents locate oiled birds and mammals.Only trained personnel should handle oiled birds and mammals. Bites and scratches from wildanimals can cause serious injury.The NOSC should designate space for a proper cleaning station. Water—both hot and cold—heat,electrical power, telephones and other support services are needed. Space and equipment to captureanimals, clean them, observe them while in captivity and means to release them to the wild7-9