Spill recovery tests conducted at Port Manatee
Crews from Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg and from Port Manatee and Tampa fire and rescue on Tuesday conducted an all-day pollution-response exercise at Port Manatee.
The exercise was conducted to test and improve the Coast Guard's ability to assemble, operate and deploy a Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System (VOSS) used to clean up the water after a spill.
The last time a VOSS was deployed in the Tampa Bay area was Aug. 10, 1993, when two inbound fuel barges and an outbound phosphate freighter collided, spilling approximately 300,000 gallons of fuel, officials noted.