Figure 'i. --Inner small boat harbor was covered with about 20 cm of oil. 



along the shore towards Peacock Point. On the 

 southern side of the point, few dead fish were 

 seen, and no dead fish or shoreside petroleum 

 pollution was seen on the northern side of the 

 point. 



On September 11 and 12, FAA personnel in 

 cooperation with crewmen from the R. C. Stone r 

 had cleared most of the larger fish from the 

 shore area that had received the bulk of the 

 dead fish. The cleared shoreline extended from 

 the harbor entrance southeast for about 2,300m 

 (Figure 1). 



By September 13, a U.S. Navy harbor clear- 

 ance team had arrived from Subic Bay, Philip- 

 pine Islands, to assist in removing the vessel. 

 Two Navy tugs, a Navy salvage ship, the U.S. 

 Conserver . a Navy tanker, the U.S. Noxubee , and 

 USCG Mallow were laying offshore to assist in 

 the salvage of the R. C. Stoner and her cargo. 



Standard Oil Company and U.S. Navy person- 

 nel were removing oil products from the sur- 

 face of the small boat harbor. Utilizing air- 

 driven pumps and surface skimmers, they were 

 pumping oil into pits dug close to the harbor. 

 The oil in the pits was burned each evening. 

 Over 100,000 gal were estimated to have been 

 removed from the harbor and disposed of by 

 this technique. 



SHORELINE SURVEYS 



We made spot surveys along the full length of 

 the seaward and lagoon coastlines of the atoll 

 to determine and assess the effects of the con- 

 tamination. 



The Lagoon 



No petroleum products had entered the la- 

 goon. The harbor is blocked from the lagoon 

 by an earthen causeway which had prevented 

 entry of oil into the lagoon from the harbor. 

 The prevailing westerly winds and currents 

 evidently prevented pollutants from entering 

 the lagoon over the reef on the northwestern 

 end of the atoll. 



Area Cleared of Fish by the 

 Federal Aviation Agency 



With few exceptions all the larger fish had 

 been removed from the cleaned section of the 

 shoreline. The remaining small fish were con- 

 centrated in windrows along two oily high-water 

 marks along the coastline. Both high-water 

 lines were the result of abnormally high tides 

 in combination with the strong onshore wind 

 and high seas which prevailed early in Septem- 

 ber. They were about 8 and 3 m higher up the 

 beach than the high-water level on September 

 13. The fish were usually thickly covered with 

 oil. They consisted largely of pomacentrlds 

 (damselfishes) and acanthurids (surgeonfishes); 

 Pomacentrus nigricans , Abudefduf sordidus . 

 and Acanthurus triostegus seemed to predom- 

 inate. We estimated that the remaining fish on 

 this section of the coast probably did not amount 

 to more than a few hundred kilograms. 



Dead turbine molluscs, Turbo sp. (Figure 5), 

 and dead sea urchins, Tripneustes sp., were 

 abundant. We also saw a tew dead beach crabs 

 and small cowries. 



Personnel involved in the fish cleanup oper- 



