One week after the English Bay oil spill, scientists from the Vancouver Aquarium are still hard at work trying to understand the scope of its impact on local marine life.

Members of the Aquarium’s dive team collected sediment from the bottom of Burrard Inlet on Tuesday, and those samples are being analyzed along with oil, water and shellfish gathered in the wake of the MV Marathassa’s bunker fuel spill.

Dr. Peter Ross, founder of the Aquarium’s Ocean Pollution Research Program, said it’s critical to get preliminary results as fast as possible.

“Results will be used to fingerprint the source of the spill, the spread of this fuel throughout coastal waters, and immediate risks to seas life,” Ross said in a statement.

The Aquarium’s work is being done alongside testing by government agencies including the Coast Guard, whctv vancouverich also collected samples this week.

The Coast Guard conservatively estimates 2,700 litres of bunker fuel were dumped into the ocean in the April 8 spill. As of the federal government’s last update on Tuesday, less than one litre of surface oil remained on the water.

A crew of about 150 people has been cleaning shorelines and vessels, the Coast Guard said, and a wildlife rehabilitation facility has been set up in Stanley Park.

So far, one duck rescued from oil has died. Two others are being cared for, and up to 30 birds are being monitored by specialists.

The Coast Guard also announced it’s developing its own plan to monitor the impacts of last week’s spill. Dr. Ross stressed the impact will have to be understood in the context of “countless activities” affecting the ocean’s health, including expanding industries, shipping, urban development, and the discharge of waste water.

The Aquarium said that will be difficult, however, because of a current lack of long-term monitoring of ocean ecosystems.

“There’s a major gap in the understanding and management of our coastal environments,” Aquarium CEO John Nightingale said in a statement.

“If the goal of cleanup efforts is to return our harbour to the state it was in before the leak, we can’t because we don’t have good baseline information.”

The Aquarium said it’s attempting to establish such a baseline through its Ocean Pollution Research Program, and the recently launched Pollution Watch Project, but its success will depend on partnerships with First Nations and community organizations.