"The vessels that have been moored along Nelson Quay here have got traces of oil along their hulls stuck to their boat, so there is going to be a little bit of a clean-up there."
The regional council was asking the owners of boats moored nearby to phone the Hawkes Bay Regional Council's pollution hotline for advice on cleaning their boats before they washed them down, to avoid more pollutants going into the water.
Mr Lilburn did not know when the boat had sunk, but suspected it had been submerged for several days.
"We've noticed oil sheens in the harbour here for the last two days but we've never been able to track down where they're coming from," he said.
"Now we've found the vessel, which was virtually out of sight, we suspect what we've been seeing over the past two days has actually been diesel sheens that have come out of this vessel. We suspect it's been submerged for several days."
The owner of the boat had been down to have a look at it but how much diesel was inside it at the time had not yet been discussed with council staff.
Work to contain the oil was to continue today.
