Our Mission:

Islands' Oil Spill Association's mission is to provide a prompt, first line of response and prevention for oil spills in the San Juan Islands and surrounding waters.

IOSA is a unique community-based, private non-profit organization that provides a range of response services including initial assessment, containment and cleanup and oiled wildlife rescue. Since 1988 IOSA has been on-call 24 hours a day throughout the year and, as of December 31, 2005, has been paged for 410 spill reports in and around the San Juan Islands and for wildlife rescue services in 3 major spills in other parts of Washington State. Out of the total, 85 have involved ongoing oil and hazardous material/debris recovery, containment, booming, stopping or removing the source of oil and/or wildlife rescue.

Common spill sources include vessel groundings, collisions, sinkings and leaks from damaged fuel tanks. 354 community members have volunteered their time to train and be available as responders in San Juan County. For each spill to date IOSA responders have met the need for prompt assessment and response