Oil Spill Reported Near Fairhaven Shipyard

Cleanup crews responded to an oil spill Sunday morning near the Fairhaven Shipyard, but authorities say they don't know what caused it.

At 7:22 a.m. the Fairhaven Fire Department received notification of an oil spill in the area of 50 Fort Street, the address of the Fairhaven Shipyard and Marina. On arrival, "they encountered a large oil spill of unknown quantity but estimated to be over 200 gallons," according to a statement from Lt. Paul Correia, public information officer for the fire department.

The spill was "predominately located from Fairhaven Shipyard north to Linberg Marine," Correia wrote.

The Fairhaven Harbormaster responded along with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard. The fire department and harbormaster deployed absorbent and sweep booms to collect "the initial product that could be recovered." MassDEP contacted the Frank Corporation, a New Bedford-based environmental cleanup firm, to complete the mitigation work. The work by Frank Corp. was overseen by the Coast Guard.

"The source was unknown at this time," Correia wrote.