Stewardship Tip Jun 15th, 2010 – Prevent Gas Spills on the Boat
Handling gasoline on the boat requires special precautions. Here are several tips to help you safely fill your boat and to prevent spills.
Know how much fuel your tank will hold: Know how much gasoline you need to add in order to fill your tank. Allowing fuel to spill into the water through the vent, just to check for a full tank, introduces fuel directly into our fish’s habitat.
Stop pumping when close to full: Make sure to fill your tank about 95% full; leave about 5% of the tank’s volume for expansion. Pumping gas from a cool underground tank on a hot summer day, will cause gas to expand and possibly leak from the vent after you’ve left the dock. Also, if you fill your tank to the fullest, gas will stand in the fill hose. The fill hose is not designed to store fuel.
Fill on shore: Fill portable tanks from outboard boat engines on shore, not near water.
Why it is important to the fish: Recent research, conducted by Dr. Peter Hodson, indicates that detergents may be the best way to treat spills in the long term. Detergents disperse and dilute oil and fuel. Dr. Hodson noted, that detergents decrease the surface tension between oil and water, allowing floating oil to mix with water as tiny droplets. As a result, it creates a larger reservoir of oil in the water column and increases the transfer of hydrocarbons from oil to water. These hydrocarbons pass easily from water into tissues of fish and are deadly in the early stages of life.When fuel is spilled directly into the water, our fish suffer the consequences. These consequences are usually dire. While there are methods, such as the use of detergents, to break down fuel, the best practice is to keep fuel out of the water entirely.
Take the responsibility when you fill your boat. Keep gasoline out of the water.
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