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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130219203527im_/http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/images/clear.gif)
Remedial/Injury Assessment
Case: Athos Spill, PA, NJ, and DE
The trustees and representatives of the ship owner/operator initiated
preassessment activities under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) on 27
November 2004. A work group was formed, consisting of ship owner/operator
representatives (Entrix, Inc. and Polaris Applied Sciences, Inc.); National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(FWS); Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources,
Department of Environmental Protection, Game Commission, and Fish and Boat
Commission; New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP); and
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC).
While the work group was a cooperative process, the trustees maintained formal
decision-making authority.
Specific preassessment activities included shoreline (aerial and ground) and
resource (e.g., bird and wildlife, horseshoe crab) surveys, and ephemeral data
collection (e.g., water, sediment, and fish and shellfish tissue samples). The
Preassessment Data Report describes these data collection efforts, and provides
laboratory results and supporting documentation. Based on data and other
information included in the Report, the trustees identified injuries to
shoreline habitats, birds, benthic habitat, and recreation use (i.e., boating,
fishing, hunting, etc.).
See Preassessment Data Report,
Appendices a, b, and c; Appendices
d and e; Appendices f and g;
Appendices h and i.
Summary of injuries resulting from the Athos incident
Resource Category |
Injury |
Primary Restoration |
Aquatic |
Subtidal benthic habitat |
412 acres |
Natural recovery |
Birds and Wildlife |
Gulls |
2,946 birds (direct and indirect) |
Natural recovery |
Diving ducks, diving birds, wading birds, kingfishers |
464 birds (direct and indirect) |
Dabbling ducks and shorebirds |
2,503 birds (direct and indirect) |
Swans and geese |
5,956 birds (direct and indirect) |
Shoreline |
Seawalls, sand/mud substrate, marsh, coarse substrate |
1,729 acres |
Natural recovery |
Tributaries |
1,899 acres |
Recreation |
Trips affected (lost and diminished value) |
41,709 trips |
Natural recovery |
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