ABSTRACT
On January 3rd,1968 The freight M/V Schiedyk departed Gold River bound for Portland Oregon with a cargo of wood pulp, and bunkered with 600 tonnes of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) and marine diesel oil (MDO). The M/V Schiedyk was nearing the end of her transit through the restricted waters of the Muchalaht inlet, when she struck Bligh island and sank. With time the Schiedyk was forgotten, until September 2020 when reports of sheen and black oil in Zuciarte channel were received by the Coast Guard, leading to a complex response operation from December 2020 through July 2021.
The response was structured around a Unified Command involving the Canadian Coast Guard, BC ministry of Environment, and the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation, and was supported by numerous other partners. This multi phased response included the identification and protection of sensitivities; containment and recover of oil; a technical assessment of the wreck by Resolve Marine utilizing ROVs for non-intrusive, and then intrusive surveys; a bulk oil removal operation; and a final recovery and monitoring phase. This response is the longest ongoing operation the Canadian Coast guard has ever been engaged in.