Environment Southland, Te Ao Marama, and Maritime New Zealand carry out the training exercises twice a year to familiarise personnel with the planning and deployment of boat-related booms, skimmers and other oil spill response equipment.
However, strong winds, rain and choppy water meant the training kept to land-based exercises for safety.
Environment Southland deputy harbourmaster Ian Coard said Awarua Bay had been selected for the location of the training due to its fragile habitat, which included unique birdlife.
Species included terns, black billed gulls and fern birds, which all nested in the area.
"We work closely with Doc and iwi.
"It’s an area that [is] dear to iwi, so we look after that," he said.
The people training yesterday were working through a scenario where a vessel containing oil had come ashore in the area.
The tools they were working with included a weir skimmer that would recover oil from the water surface, a harbour boom to corral the oil, and absorbent pads to be placed on the beach.
"Luckily [a real spill] hasn’t happened in my time.
"But there have been a few few big ones [elsewhere] that were all hands on deck.
"During the real McCoy, you’d throw everything at it.
"We’ve got up to four 90m booms ... that’d contain a lot — we can cover a lot of area."
By Ben Tomsett
