MANATEE COUNTY – The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the source of an oil spill at SeaPort Manatee on Aug. 31.
SeaPort Manatee is a Manatee County-owned port located on Tampa Bay in northern Manatee County.
“We are on scene now working with the port,” U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Mike Kale of Sector St. Petersburg’s Response Department said on Friday.
Kale said his department is actively working to determine the source of the oil spill, which he estimates at about 3,000 gallons.
“A commercial oil response company has been hired,” Kale said on Friday. “They’re applying a boom around the oil. It appears to be contained.”
Some of the Coast Guard Response Department’s missions are ports, waterways and coastal security, and marine environmental protection.
The spill was noticed on Aug. 31, according to a spokesperson for the Manatee County Port Authority. That was the day after Hurricane Idalia side-swept Manatee County as a Category 3 storm.
“Yesterday, we noticed a visible discoloration within the port’s basin and notified the National Response Center,” Manatee County Port Authority Communications Director Virginia Zimmerman wrote in a Sept. 1 email. “The U.S. Coast Guard inspected and didn’t set any restrictions on vessel operations.”
Kale said the investigation into the source of the oil remains active.
“We don’t know the source right now, we are continuing to investigate,” he said. “That could take some time to determine.”