This summer, after a three-year hiatus, Save Our Shores re-joins the swell of Monterey Bay area advocacy groups with an eye on oil contamination. Rather than focusing on the splashy oil spills that make headlines, SOS works to prevent the little oil leaks that happen every day.

In partnership with the county of Monterey and the California Integrated Waste Management Board, SOS aims to reduce petroleum pollution from fishing and recreational boats through its DockWalker program. SOS distributes free clean-boating kits from the harbors of Moss Landing, Monterey, Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz every weekend through the end of September, Gilligan says. The kits include green-boating coupons, biodegradable cleaners, and oil-absorbent pads to soak up spilled petroleum during fueling and maintenance operations.

Historically, boat owners have dumped used oil overboard and spilled gas during fueling and maintenance operations, according to Lauren Gilligan, SOS Clean Boating Program Coordinator. Just one pint of oil can contaminate an acre of water, fouling the protected ecosystems of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Refined oil used for boat fuel is more toxic, more soluble and more readily absorbed by marine animals than crude oil, Gilligan says. Used motor oil, which contains heavy metals and chemical compounds created by combustion and other processes, is more toxic still.

Oil has the troublesome ability to both slick across the surface of the sea and to accumulate on the sea floor, with potentially deadly impacts on fish larvae, adult fish, crabs, seafaring birds and sea lions, Gilligan says. Eating fish whose insides are greased with oil can’t be healthy, either– for pelicans or for people.

An oil spill in Monterey Bay would be particularly disastrous to the threatened southern sea otter population, which is concentrated along the Central Coast. Oil compromises the insulating property of otters’ thick fur, leaving them susceptible to hypothermia.

In an effort to reduce oil pollution from boats, SOS first launched the DockWalker program in Monterey in 1997. The California Coastal Commission adopted the model and expanded it across the state, Gilligan says, and similar programs now are cleaning up waters as far away as the Florida Keys and the Great Lakes.

A money squeeze closed SOS’s Monterey operation in 2005. But more than $100,000 in recent grants and a new director have enabled the Santa Cruz-based group to renew its efforts in the southern half of the bay. “We think it’s important to re-connect with the people down there,” Gilligan says.

To volunteer, or for more information, contact: Lauren@saveourshores.org.