An oil spill from the World War II Liberty Ship, SS Jeremiah O’Brien, has prompted a cleanup effort at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco since Saturday. NBC reports that The United States Coast Guard and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are looking into the fuel spill by the tourist attraction. A pollution response crew was immediately sent to clean up the discharged fuel from the ship.

The Coast Guard confirmed that a barrel of crude oil broke and caused the fuel to spill overboard, but less than 50 gallons went into the bay. The oil spill caused the SS Jeremiah O’Brien to close for tourists. A Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter surveyed the area, along with a boat. Additionally, vacuum trucks and skimming vessels have been used during the oil spill cleanup at the historical ship’s docking site.

The SS Jeremiah O’Brien is one of 2,710 ships launched during World War II and is one of only two remaining. Its location at Pier 45 is one of San Francisco’s National Historic Landmark attractions, featured in the National Register of Historic Places.

The California Spill Watch took to Twitter on Sunday to announce the oil spill.

OSPR at #SFBay spill near SS Jeremiah O'brien. Boom deployed, assessments & wildlife monitoring underway.

— Cal Spill Watch (@CalSpillWatch) September 21, 2014

Oil spills have become a major environmental concern, especially when they impact the natural wildlife. Inquisitr recently covered the Galveston Bay oil spill, which reportedly spilled about one-fifth of the 900,000 gallons of oil into the water.

ABC 7 News adds that the oil spill took place at 10:56 a.m. at Fisherman’s Wharf on Saturday. It seems the oil barrel ruptured during an internal transfer of the supplies. The spill area was estimated to be about 150 yards and was surrounded by more than 5,000 feet of boom to protect the surrounding wildlife and environment.

According to The Sacramento Bee, Lt. Jacob Aulner, a Coast Guard spokesperson, stated that the crew believes no damage had been reported to the wildlife in the area from the oil spill at Fisherman’s Wharf. NBC added that the Coast Guard released a statement: “On-scene coordinators are working diligently with Wish and Wildlife to ensure the SS Jeremiah O’Brien is taking every action necessary to achieve a prompt and satisfactory cleanup effort.” The cleanup efforts seem to be under control and the oil spill did not have a negative impact on the wildlife at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.

(Image courtesy of Normal Lee/NBC Bay Area)