A New Zealand flagged fishing boat has been detained following a large oil spill in an American Samoa harbor and deficiencies found during a Coast Guard inspection.
Nearly 2-thousand litres of diesel is believed to have spilled from the purse seiner Ocean Breeze inside Pago Pago Harbor.
A Coast Guard Lieutenant, Steven Claskey, says the spill was reported by the boat itself, and the Coast Guard is overseeing the clean up operation.
Local Port Administration is understood to have fined the vessel and the Coast Guard detained it following an inspection which found that pollution prevention equipment on board was not operating properly.
The Coast Guard is working with the NZ flagged vessel and marine surveyors to have the deficiencies corrected and the Ocean Breeze is still in port.
