Fishing ban lifted after Petaluma River oil spill

Authorities on Wednesday lifted a fishing ban on the Petaluma River following the holiday weekend oil spill from a junked tug boat.

State Fish and Game spokeswoman Alexia Retallack said the ban was lifted at 10:30 a.m. following searches along the river north of the spill, in a cove west of Hopper Street and south of D Street.

“Folks may see people in vessels doing some work along the shore,” she said, “but that's just a little spot cleaning.”

She said no damage to wildlife had been discovered from the spill of as much as 600 gallons of oil from a 60-foot tug boat that was being dismantled in the cove.

Most of the remaining oil had been removed from the vessel, she said, which is being further dismantled so work crews can remove it completely from the water.

Oil-containment booms will remain in several spots along the river for now, but authorities are considering removing them soon.

“We're beginning a boom removal timeline, but we'll probably continue to leave them in place until the tug is completely out of the water and no longer a hazard,” Retallack said.

According to Fish and Game officials, an Alameda-based company called ATOP was dismantling the tug boat for scrap when the leak occurred. A neighbor reported it on Monday morning, but it had already spread across about two miles of the river from downtown Petaluma to Highway 101.

Typically, all oil and other hazardous liquids would be removed from a vessel before dismantling. ATOP representatives haven't returned messages seeking comment.

Petaluma City Manager John Brown said Wednesday that any such dismantling work would have required a permit, which hadn't been issued.

“A city permit would have been required, plus a business license, to do this type of work in the city of Petaluma,” he said. “Additionally, there would have been other permits required by the state and feds.”

The Coast Guard has jurisdiction on the waterway.

Brown said a permit wouldn't have been approved because of the fuel, flammables and environmental risk.

The land is zoned for industrial use, but that refers to a business operating on the land, not industrial-grade work next to the shore, he said.

At the site Wednesday morning, a salvage crew struggled with cutting the remains of the tug in half, trying to split it so it could be hauled away. Moving the remains of the boat was one of the last major elements of the cleanup.

“There's something holding it together. They can't get it split in half,” said Petaluma Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Holden, who was watching the effort.

“They have a couple of tractors in there pushing and pulling.”