Pumping bilge and a sheen at a quiet anchorage
You are anchored for the night in a small, enclosed bay with six other boats. Your 7 m cruiser has an older two-stroke outboard and a bilge that has been taking on a little water all season. At 21:00 you notice the automatic bilge pump running more often than usual, and when it discharges over the side you see a faint rainbow sheen on the water near the stern. You have a spare absorbent pad, a bucket, a manual bilge pump, and a small fuel can on deck. The bay has a resident loon pair and a swimming beach 150 m away. Wind is light and the bay is calm.
1. What is the environmental and legal problem here, and what do you do tonight?
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The sheen is a petroleum discharge, and discharging fuel or oily bilge water overboard is prohibited. Even a faint rainbow film is reportable and should be contained, not ignored.
Tonight:
- Stop the automatic pump from discharging oily water overboard if you can do so safely; use the manual pump into the bucket for the oily water and keep it aboard.
- Deploy the absorbent pad at the discharge point to catch the sheen, and use the bucket to skim what you can.
- Find the source: check the fuel line, primer bulb, connections at the engine, and the fuel can on deck. A two-stroke can also leave oil in the bilge from spilled premix.
- Do not run the engine or pump oily water out to disperse it.
- Keep the collected oily water and pad for proper disposal ashore, not in the water or a marina drain.
- Note what happened and report the spill if it is more than a trivial sheen; the responsible action is to contain and report, not to hide it.
The exam point is that the bilge pump is not a disposal system, and that a sheen near a beach and wildlife area raises the duty to contain and report.
2. The next morning the bilge is still taking water and the sheen has spread slightly. How do you get home without making it worse, and what boating-etiquette points apply in this anchorage?
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Getting home:
- Do not run the engine hard or pump the bilge overboard. Use the manual pump into containers and keep the oily water aboard.
- Check the source again; if a fuel line is leaking, do not run the engine until it is fixed. Arrange a tow or a slow, short run only if it is safe and the leak is stopped.
- Keep the absorbent pad ready at the stern and carry the collected waste to a proper disposal point ashore.
Etiquette in a quiet anchorage:
- Keep noise down, especially early and late; no loud engine revving or music.
- Do not anchor over the loon nesting area or close to other boats; give wildlife and neighbours space.
- Use the beach and shore without leaving rubbish; pack out everything.
- Do not discharge anything, including soapy water or grey water, in a small enclosed bay.
- Report the spill honestly and cooperate with any cleanup.
The exam is testing the link between a mechanical fault, pollution law, and neighbourly behaviour in a sensitive, crowded anchorage. Contain it, fix it, and do not spread it.