The Preparing Our Home program partnered with Western Canada Marine Response Corporation  to train the youth in oil spill response.

As a Transport Canada certified Response Organization, Western Canada Marine Response Corporation’s mandate is to ensure there is a state of preparedness in place and to mitigate the impact when an oil spill occurs. This includes the protection of wildlife, environmental, cultural and economic sensitivities and the safety of both the responders and the public.

During the Preparing our Home workshop in Ahousaht, WCMRC, as part of their Coastal Response Program demonstrated a variety of tools and equipment used in spill response, protection of shoreline, and Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique.

The day started with an overview of oil spill response on the west coast of BC. Students learned about who is involved in a spill, who is affected and what can be done to mitigate any impacts.

Photo Credit Lily Yumagulova

After a general discussion of what WCMRC does on a day to day basis and during a spill, the students had the opportunity to participate in a simulated shoreline clean-up assessment (SCAT) survey. This consisted of walking the shoreline as a team, assessing the shoreline oiling extent and compiling all of this information into a SCAT shoreline oiling summary form (SOS).

Photo Credit Jonathon Reynolds

Students used hand-held GPS devices and cameras to collect data.

Photo credit Leanne John

Photo Credit Timur Reynolds

After an SOS form was filled out the team moved to the dock where they helped deploy a DTG2 DeepTrekker ROV.

Photo Credit Lily Yumagulova

The students had the opportunity to ‘fly’ the ROV away from the dock and to depth. They learned about how ROVs are being used to detect potentially submerged oil, how the water sampler can be used to collect water samples at depth and how the sediment sampler can be used to collect sediment samples.

Photo Credit Lily Yumagulova

Photo Credit Lily Yumagulova