NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- BP will find thousands of boom anchors left in the Gulf of Mexico after the oil spill, but may not remove them, the company says.
The anchors held the boom used to shield parts of the Louisiana from the oil, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reports.
The Coast Guard says BP's experts will first determine whether the anchors are a hazard and whether removing them might cause more harm than good.
Fishermen say BP's contractors just cut the boom from the anchors, leaving the hazards in the water. They say the anchors have snagged and torn their nets, and boat propellers have become tangled in the ropes, the newspaper reported. But BP has said its contractors removed all anchors that were not stuck deep in sediment or had not drifted away.
BP will hire contractors "to look at the feasibility of finding these anchors," said Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Lionel Bryant, who met with the company last week.
But first BP plans to put even more anchors in the water to test the best imaging techniques to locate them.
"Metrics to measure success must be established before any pilot program begins," BP spokeswoman Hejdi Feick said.
