Most of the oil that spilled into San Francisco Bay when a container ship struck the Bay Bridge will never be retrieved and eventually will be absorbed into the ecosystem, authorities said Friday.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which was criticized for its response to the 58,000-gallon spill, acknowledged miscommunication with local officials but insisted it didn`t impede their efforts to corral the oil.

Tides carried the heavy fuel that poured from the ship`s oil tank under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific Ocean, fouling miles of coastline, closing several beaches, canceling weekend outdoor events and threatening thousands of birds and other marine life. It is believed to be the biggest spill in the bay since 1988.

The pilot who was guiding the container ship away from the Port of Oakland when it hit the bridge piling Wednesday said he had notified authorities immediately, and soon after alerted them that there was a sheen of oil on the water, his attorney said in a statement.

It took cleanup crews at least 90 minutes to respond, "which, of course, allowed the spill to spread," said the statement from Capt. John Cota`s attorney, John F. Meadows.

Coast Guard logs of the day`s events shows a response team on the scene in about a half hour, but it took much longer for oil-skimming vessels to arrive.

Rear Adm. Craig Bone conceded the agency should have done a better job keeping local authorities informed. "That is not acceptable," he said.

"What I want to impress upon people is, there was an immediate response, there was an immediate response to prevent further loss, there was an immediate response to gather as much as you possibly can," Bone said.

Oil skimmers and shoreline cleanup crews continued mopping up the damage. But as the oil spreads and dissipates, crews will find "diminishing returns" in their skimming efforts, said Barry McFarley, whose private recovery firm the O`Brien Group was hired by the ship`s owner to handle its response to the spill.

On Friday, 9,500 gallons of oil had been sucked up. Lt. Rob Roberts, an investigator with the California Department of Fish and Game, said by the weekend most of the oil will be beyond containment and capture. Most of the fuel will dissolve into the water, but some globules could remain and cause problems for birds for months.

"Oil and feathers don`t mix," said Yvonne Addassi, a wildlife biologist with the Department of Fish and Game. "This is not good for the birds."

Fish and Game officials said they have received hundreds of reports of oiled birds found on Bay Area beaches. So far, 73 live birds have been recovered and sent to a recovery center in Solano County; 17 were found dead.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency after meeting with state, federal and local officials overseeing the cleanup. The proclamation makes additional state personnel, funding and equipment available.

"This has done tremendous damage to the environment, to wildlife and to the birds," the governor said. "We have to clean up as quickly as possible."

City officials have said they weren`t given accurate information about the size of the spill until 9 p.m. Wednesday, more than 12 hours after the accident.

A new set of Coast Guard logs that surfaced Friday suggested the agency had concluded by 4:49 p.m. that 58,000 gallons had spilled, rather than the 140 gallons reported earlier. That contradicted a different Coast Guard log obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday. It said that at 4:49 p.m., the Coast Guard believed 400 gallons had escaped.

Bone, the Coast Guard`s top official in California, didn`t explain the delay.

Sen. Barbara Boxer criticized the Coast Guard`s response in a letter to Commandant Adm. Thad W. Allen, and Mayor Gavin Newsom said the city would have responded differently if it knew the full scale of the spill.

Bone said Friday "their concerns were warranted."

The ship, called Cosco Busan, had just left the Port of Oakland and was proceeding to sea when it hit a tower beneath the western section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. It caused no structural damage to the span, but the vessel`s hull suffered a large gash.

Investigators continue to puzzle over why the ship, one of hundreds that pass under the bridge each year, struck the tower. The pilot was one of the most experienced of the seamen who guide massive ships through the bay`s treacherous waters.

"How does a ship, with that much space available, how does a ship hit the bridge?" Schwarzenegger asked Coast Guard officials as he was shown a map of the bay and where the vessel struck the bridge.

"That`s what we`re investigating," answered Coast Guard Capt. William Uberti, captain of the Port of San Francisco. "That shouldn`t have happened."

According to chief investigator G. Ross Wheatley, the pilot and the shipping company could face civil penalties. He said Cota had answered every question asked of him.
sections: Nature & Health