Bunker fuel gushed from the freighter for at least an hour Friday afternoon, coating wildlife and forcing windsurfers to flee the water at Squamish.
"The fuel spill is being pushed by waves, currents and winds into the Squamish Estuary and is affecting the shorelines, marshes and wildlife of the Squamish Estuary," RCMP Cpl. D.S. Ritchie said in a statement.
Members of the coast guard emergency response team and provincial conservation officers were on the scene Friday night, along with Burrard Clean, a cleanup company, based in North Vancouver.
The fuel forced at least 20 people from the water, an eyewitness said.
"It stinks of diesel oil. We all smell. It's slimy," said Chris Glazier, 58, a Vancouver kiteboarder who was covered in oil from the spill. "We're depressed," he said. "Our day has been ruined and the estuary looks like it will have a serious ecological problem."
Glazier said the spill took people by surprise. "No one really noticed at first," said Glazier. "Then suddenly we started getting oil all over us."
At 3 p.m., the ship Westwood Anette, owned by Gearbulk Shipping Canada, punctured two holes in one fuel tank while exiting Squamish Terminal, said coast guard spokesman Don Bate.
"Estimating volume of the spill is quite hard until we begin to do cleanup," Bate said.
Catherine Stewart, campaign director of the Living Oceans Society, said the spill could cause enormous ecological damage because estuaries are the richest part of the river system, with a high concentration of shellfish, plants, insects and juvenile fish.
Stewart said the spill will be particularly hard on salmon stocks, which were already decimated by a chemical spill in the Cheakamus River, which flows into the Squamish River and into the estuary.
Peter Swanson, a lawyer and spokesman for Gearbulk, said he did not know how much oil had escaped the tank or how big the tank was.
"The real information will come once it is known precisely which tank, how much fuel was in the tank and how much remains," Swanson said.
The Westwood Anette was being escorted out of port by two tugs when the freighter struck pilings. It was being chartered by forestry company Weyerhaeuser, said Lawrence Pillon, Weyerhaeuser spokesman.
"The ship identified the leak," Pillon said. "They kicked in the oil spill response plan immediately."