Both Vancouver’s mayor and B.C.’s premier have slammed the Coast Guard’s response to Wednesday’s oil spill in picturesque English Bay.

“It took six hours to get booms in place – six hours,” Christy Clark said in a press conference Friday morning. “It’s very, very disappointing…We’d have a much smaller problem if it was taken care of quicker.”

Just a half hour earlier, Mayor Gregor Robertson called the federal and provincial response to the spill a “lack of leadership.” Not being able to aid in the clean-up is the city’s ‘worst nightmare,’ he added.

Robertson says thousands of Vancouverites have contacted the city to help with cleanup efforts.

“These are our beaches, these are our waters. It's been heart-wrenching to not start clean-up,” said Robertson, who cut his Easter vacation short after receiving news of the spill. “If this [spill] had been a lot worse, this kind of response would have been a catastrophe…it’s very disappointing that 42 hours after a spill we still don’t know what it is.”

Clark acknowledged the mayor’s frustration, but says it’s the federal government who is responsible for the bulk of the clean-up, not the provincial government.

Despite calling the spill response “inadequate”, Clark said her government’s stance on pipelines has not changed.

“Our government’s position [on pipelines] remains the same today as did yesterday, and the day before,” said Clark. “The five conditions must be met.”

Transport Canada confirmed that the oil spill in Vancouver’s English Bay is coming from the grain carrier Marathassa. Divers helped identify the Marathassa – which is a “brand new vessel” -- as the source of the oil.

Around 80 per cent of the oil spill has been recovered, according to the Coast Guard, with clean-up efforts continuing.

Asst. Commissioner Roger Girouard said the oil spill initially seemed minor, but three hours later reports proved otherwise. A boom was subsequently employed to contain the oil.

Reacting to criticisms about the Coast Guard’s “inadequate response”, Girouard defended his team.

“You don’t contain 80 per cent of a spill in 36 hours and call it inadequate,” he told reporters Friday afternoon. “I will not accept that comment about my team.”

Girouard also rebutted arguments that the Kitsilano Coast Guard Station, which closed in February 2013, would have helped with the spill response.

“Kits base would not have made an iota of difference,” he said, noting that the station was only search and rescue, not environmental response.

The Coast Guard said no plans currently exist to re-open the station.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau issued a statement on Friday in response to the spill, promising to re-open “a full-service Coast Guard station in Vancouver” if his party is elected.

“Stephen Harper’s cuts to marine safety resources and the closure of Vancouver’s Kitsilano Coast Guard Base each undermine our ability to respond to spills like this,” he said. “A new Liberal government will re-open a full-service Coast Guard station in Vancouver and re-invest in marine safety and oil spill response capacity on the B.C. coast."

An estimated 3,000 litres of fuel spilled into the water, beginning Wednesday evening. A sailor first reported the spill to the Coast Guard around 5 p.m., but the City of Vancouver wasn’t notified until around 6 a.m. the next morning.

The oil spill is believed to be an “unintentional malfunction”, although the exact cause is unconfirmed.

The foreign vessel company will be held accountable for some of the costs, says the Coast Guard, and is potentially liable for all the efforts related to the clean-up. The legal process is currently underway.

Officials in West Vancouver first issued a surprise warning to residents to stay away from the water late on Thursday, after winds blew the oily slick towards its shoreline.

Total impact on the environment and marine life is still unclear. Four oil-covered birds have been taken to be cleaned, according to the Coast Guard.

Safety signs were placed on English Bay Friday morning, warning people and pets against going into the waters. Some residents are questioning why it took so long for those signs to be erected.

The Vancouver Park Board temporarily closed part of the seawall around Siwash Rock Friday afternoon. 

The city has also stationed parking bylaw officers on English Bay Beach to remind people to stay away from the water. Vancouverites are being urged to leave the cleaning to the experts to avoid further contamination