“Too many times in our country we find that spills go unreported,” said Mr. Williamson. “It is an injustice to the entire community.

“Time and resources are of the essence. The quicker you can report the matter to the officials the quicker they can have someone there to investigate the issue. They may need additional resources. It could be out of your scope. We have to be very careful. Our environment is so fragile.”

There is an official form from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Labour to be filled whenever a spill is spotted, he said.

“In an oil spill it is not your job to determine whether it is too small or even too large,” he said. “At the end of the day you are talking about sensitive areas; you are talking about legal ramifications.

“If you don’t report it, instead of having something that can be easily contained, because of wind, it has drifted into some marina where you are faced with tremendous expenses. I definitely encourage everyone to report all oil spills.

“Once it is reported, it sets the alarm and an investigation will be launched. When we launch these investigations, they help us to minimize the potential for these things happening again. We learn from each incident.”

He estimated that “that 90 per cent of the people refueling their boats have some overflow. Could you imagine the cumulative effect of that foolishness?”

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