The spill had major long-lasting impacts on the biological and natural resources of the entire Puerto Rican area.

[2] The Morris J. Berman left the Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico in the early morning hours of January 7, 1994 in tow behind the tug boat Emily S., carrying a total of 1.5 million gallons of oil.

[2] The barge was nearly two hours into its trip to Antigua when the towing cable connecting the Berman to the Emily snapped for the first time.

At 3:50 AM, the cable snapped a second time, and the barge broke free striking a coral reef off of Escambron Beach, near San Juan.

The impact caused extensive damage to two of the barge's nine holding tanks, releasing 750,000 gallons of Number 6 fuel oil.

[2] An intense northerly wind added to the damage done to the vessel by pounding the stranded barge with heavy surf.

[3] Most of the areas threatened and impacted by the spill were sheltered lagoons, biota-rich intertidal zones, and beach dunes, which are all habitats for many species.

1,100 square miles of surface waters along the north coast of Puerto Rico were projected to have felt effects from the oil.

One example of lost habitat was the loss of intertidal bay and shallow waters that were used for fish as nursery areas.

Due to its close proximity to the water, intense oil vapors were present inside of the fort located at the site for up to three weeks following the spill.

[3][5] Due to the lack of appropriate data, it is impossible to determine the exact amount of tourism dollars that were lost because of the spill.

The federal government provided funding for the spill on January 14 and it became a United States Coast Guard directed response.

[7] The Governments of Puerto Rico, the United States, and other groups, sued the owners of the two vessels for clean up costs and natural resource damages.

[8] The three owners of the barge were charged with criminal negligence based on laws from the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

The Governments of Puerto Rico and the United States were paid a total of $83.5 million from Metlife Capital Corp, Water Quality Insurance Syndicate and Caribbean Petroleum Corporation.

[3] Collected living wildlife were brought to a non permanent triage facility where crabs, birds, and sea turtles were treated for oil contamination and other injuries.

[3] 28 birds and two sea turtles were also brought to the facility where 19 were successfully treated and released and 11 died at certain points during treatment.

Solutions of olive oil, Simple Green, and BioSolve were then used to clean the organisms in tubs filled with lukewarm water.

[2] The general consensus among several newspaper articles and reports is that the overall response to the spill was a success, as based on the parameters set forth by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

It was also found in federal investigations following the spill that negligent behavior was encouraged aboard the Emily S. This made it obvious that the crews of oil carrying vessels needed to be properly trained and equipped.

[2] Unlike the crew aboard the Emily S., the governments of the United States and Puerto Rico were well prepared to deal with the spill.

Millions of dollars of oil cleanup equipment was already stationed in Puerto Rico and was deployed into action within a matter of hours after the spill.

[2] As mentioned earlier, despite the overall success of Puerto Rico's oil spill response plans there were still some areas for improvement.

For example, there were some mechanical failures with some skimmer boats, inappropriate use of oil soaking materials, and an insufficient number of properly trained personnel.