More than 3000 litres of contaminated, oily water has been lifted from around a sunken boat near Dunedin.
The vessel sank in Careys Bay earlier this week requiring a maritime pollution response. It comes nearly three weeks after a fishing vessel ran aground near Bank Peninsula.
Flipped on its side, an 18-metre, 60-tonne vessel has been leaking into Otago Harbour.
"We've got an unknown quantity of oil and diesel in the water at the moment and we're just trying to recover it now," said regional on-scene commander Pete Dryden.
Two mechanical skimmers meticulously sift oil out of the water.
"They pick the oil then they go through a scraper and the scraper deposits the oil into a capture tank," Dryden said.
An orange boom blocks oil from spreading any further, protecting wildlife.
"We've still got a lot of diesel around even though we've contained most of it. So far we haven't seen any oiled wildlife around, or noticed any oiled wildlife around," Dryden said.
Late last month a fishing vessel ran aground at Shell Bay near Banks Peninsula.
Footage from this week shows the boat is breaking up as the owner and insurers continue to work on a salvage plan. Monitoring of shoreline and wildlife impact is still being carried out twice a week.
In a statement, Environment Canterbury said: "All diesel is confirmed to be gone from the vessel. The status of the hydraulic and lubricating oil could not be confirmed. But this has likely been released."
The cause of the Shell Bay ground is still under investigation as well as the cause of the Careys Bay sinking.
More than 3000 litres of oily water has been removed.
"It's a good timely reminder for vessel owners to ensure their vessels have good water-tight integrity so this sort of thing doesn't happen," Dryden said.
A salvage operation is expected to begin over the weekend, bringing the vessel upright again.
