Monitoring of Olympic National Park Beaches to determine fate and effects of spilled bunker C fuel oil

On December 23, 1988, the barge Nestucca was accidentally struck by its tow, a Souse Brothers Towing Company tug, releasing approximately 230,000 gallons of Bunker C fuel oil and fouling beaches from Grays Harbor north to Vancouver Island. Affected beaches in Washington included a 40-mile-long strip that has been recently added to Olympic National Park. The purpose of the monitoring program documented in this report was to determine the fate of spilled Bunker C fuel oil on selected Washington coastal beaches. We sought to determine (1) how much oil remained in intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats following clean-up and weathering, (2) to what extent intertidal and/or shallow subtidal biotic assemblages have been contaminated, and (3) how rapidly the oil has left the ecosystem. 45 refs., 18 figs., 8 tabs.