Incident Response

oil spill drill Staff at Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary are often the first on-scene personnel responding to emergency incidents in sanctuary waters. These types of emergencies include such incidents as vessel groundings, airplane crashes, and oil spills.

Sanctuary personnel help contact key federal, state, and local agencies; mobilize assets for response; and ensure that sensitive sanctuary resources are protected. Improving emergency preparedness and contingency planning is one of the Sanctuary’s highest priorities. These activities are coordinated by resource protection staff because of the close association and inter-relatedness to prevention, preparedness, injury assessment, and enforcement.

The Olympic Coast Area-To-Be-Avoided (ATBA) is a voluntary measure that directs large vessel traffic to stay approximately 25 miles offshore of the ecologically-sensitive and dangerous operating environment of the rugged Olympic Coast. View and download maps and other information about the Olympic Coast ATBA by selecting the ATBA link.

Compliance with the Area-To-Be-Avoided is monitored in a cooperative program jointly operated by Canadian Coast Guard and the United States Coast Guard. Vessel tracking data is provided to the sanctuary, compiled and analyzed to detect trends in compliance and to identify vessels that enter the ATBA. Compliance reports can be downloaded from our Vessel Traffic page.

Coast Guard helicopter Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary participates with the US Coast Guard, State of Washington, Quinault Nation, Hoh, Quileute and Makah Tribes on regional management and coordination of oil spill prevention and response. View our Regional Management and Coordination page on oil spill planning and response.

Contact for page content: Liam Antrim