A spill of petroleum reached the Andrés, Boca Chica coastline spotting yachts parked in the Santo Domingo Yacht Club. The Navy was alerted and quickly went to work to remove 55 gallons of petroleum residuals, employing brigades of 80 men at a time. The petroleum stain alert coincided with the announced start of a course by the Navy and the Clean Caribbean Cooperative (Mobex 2001) that would train Dominican personnel to deal with this kind of emergency. Thie course and its exercises are sponsored by the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (a joint venture with Shell). A Navy spokesman said the stain could have reached Dominican shores because many times ships enter the area overloaded and discard the excess in order to be able to enter the Port of Santo Domingo. He also said that some ship captains of tankers, in violation of international agreements, wash their tanks in the Mona Channel prior to returning to Venezuela.
