NOAA Seal - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Margara, Puerto Rico
Margara, Puerto Rico


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Assessment
  
Cleanup workers manually clean oil from shoreline rocks. Tarmats stretch along a sandy beach in Puerto Rico. Containment booms and other supplies used during the Morris J. Berman incident. Tarps and booms are used to protect the sea walls from oil. Cleanup workers use vacuums to remove oil from the beaches of San Juan, Puerto Rico. A helicopter carrying a responder to the Morris J. Berman barge. Sea turtle found during the Morris J. Berman incident.Oiled sea urchins. The San Miguel Natural Reserve was acquired with Berman settlement funds to compensate the public for injured natural resources and lost recreational use of the beaches impacted by the spill. The San Miguel Natural Reserve is made up of 422 acres of protected coastal lands and is a mosaic of coastal habitats including near shore coral reefs, more than a mile of beachfront, intertidal areas, wetlands, coastal dry forests, and mangroves. The San Miguel Natural Reserve is home to 16 federally listed threatened and endangered species. Protecting these beaches is identified in Recovery Plans for both Leatherback and Hawksbill sea turtles (National Marine Fisheries Service [NMFS] 1992, NMFS 1993). These lands will be managed as a Natural Reserve under the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources and is a treasure for the people of Puerto Rico to enjoy. Implementation of the Condado Coral Reef Trail Project, in Condado Lagoon, is led by the San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership to create new reef habitat similar to that lost as a result of the Barge Berman grounding. Thirty prefabricated cement reef-replication modules (known as Taino reef modules) created three underwater educational trails, each consisting of 10 Taino reefs. These trails are located in front of the public beach between the Dos Hermanos Bridge and the breakwater that separates Condado Lagoon from the Atlantic Ocean. It was a lot of work to get the reef modules placed carefully on site, but the underwater trails combined with the comprehensive outreach and educational component of the project provides the public an opportunity to learn about coral reefs and natural resource restoration. Spill responder stands on top of an oil-covered rocky shore in Puerto Rico. Command post during the incident. Containment booms protect the shores of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Oil on the water on the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Morris J. Berman barge off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The barge Morris J. Berman. A tug boat tows the Morris J. Berman.The Morris J. Berman barge off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Oil covered rocks on the shoreline of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Oil-covered rocky shores of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Containment booms and other supplies used during the Morris J. Berman incident. Cleanup workers use vacuums to remove oil from the beaches of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Cleanup workers use heavy machinery and manual removal techniques to clean oil from the beach. A cleanup worker deploys a boom near shore. Cleanup worker and equipment. Cleanup workers and supplies on a sandy beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Heavy oil covers this rocky shoreline of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Responders and cleanup workers with supplies and scientific equipment during the Morris J. Berman incident.


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