Prompt action prevented gallons of diesel polluting the waters of Arbroath harbour in a brace of incidents at the Angus port.
Fresh details of a spill in December have emerged in the spring report which will go before harbour joint consultative committee members this week, along with the report into a February incident in which two fishermen had a lucky escape after their 4×4 became bogged down in silt and was swamped by the incoming tide.
As harbour chiefs prepare for what is expected to be a busy summer season, the financial picture presented to the committee will also reveal a £133,000 underspend this year, partly due to extra berthing income from commercial and pleasure craft using the harbour.
The diesel incidents are covered in an oil spill contingency planning and response report which confirms the spillage of around 100 litres of diesel from a fishing boat berthed in the inner basin on December 12.
Sorbet booms were deployed overnight to contain the spill and collect the diesel, all of which was removed by the end of the following day without any effects to other users or the operation of the harbour.
The February incident resulted in a full emergency response involving harbour staff and local RNLI and Coastguard crews after Dundee man Nikolaj Saparenko and his friend, Vitalijs Krainovs, from Arbroath failed in a bid to drag their broken-down boat from the harbour slip as the tide came in.
A 4.6 metre tide poured into the stricken Kia Sorrento, which was pulled to shore the following morning.
The harbour report confirms the effective use of sorbet booms in that incident, which also prompted a Coastguard warning to harbour users encouraging them to take notice of guidance signs situated around the area.
Harbour staff regularly undergo training to maintain oil spill certification to deal with such incidents, but Angus Council also retains a commercial environmental services company to deal with higher-level pollution incidents.
An extra member of staff is due to be taken on during the summer months to deal with the upturn in harbour business.
There are currently 28 commercial fishing boats, six fare-paying passenger boats, 10 pleasure boats and 11 summer berth boats operating from Arbroath.
