A nesting pelican flies over oil boom near Dead Man's Island in Bay Eloi off the coast of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana in July 2010. Times-Picayune archive

By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune
Sunday, January 30, 2011, 7:00 AM The Coast Guard has directed BP to drop test anchors into Gulf of Mexico waters, and then search for them, to find the best way to locate and remove thousands of boom anchors left behind in the Gulf and surrounding waters after the oil spill. That first phase, scheduled to begin this weekend, involves finding the best methods for removal. The second phase will entail locating and removing the orphaned anchors in St. Bernard Parish. The third and final phase of the program — to retrieve all remaining anchors in state waters — is conditional. Removal begin in all Louisiana waters affected by the spill if the first two phases are successful. St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro has estimated there are about 3,500 anchors in St. Bernard waters alone. Thousands more are estimated in Jefferson and Plaquemines’ waterways. While the current plan doesn’t guarantee that anchors will be removed outside of St. Bernard, local officials appear confident it will get accomplished. Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts, who sponsored a parish resolution in November for boom anchor removal, said the anchors in Jefferson waters will be removed by an means necessary. “If we need to initiate litigation against BP then we will do that,” Roberts said. “But we are very happy to see that it is progressing and we will monitor the program.” The 20- to 70-pound Danforth anchors were used to secure the boom that lined portions of Louisiana’s coast to help prevent the oil spewing from BP’s Macondo well from reaching the marshes. Local fishers complain that BP contractors simply cut the boom from the anchors, leaving the hazards in waterways. The fishers say their nets have snagged and been torn by the anchors, and boat propellers have become tangled in the ropes that come up from the anchors and float to the surface. BP has maintained that its contractors removed all the anchors that weren’t embedded deep in sediment or had not long ago drifted away. …

BP will launch test to find boom anchors left in Gulf after oil spill