National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

U.S. Department of Commerce

NOAA’s Oil Spill Response

Using Boom in Response 

to Oil Spills

Boom is a common type of oil spill response equipment. It is used to protect shorelines or 

sensitive locations by acting as a barrier to oil, and to 

corral oil on the water to enhance the recovery 

effectiveness of skimmers or other response operations.

How Boom is Used

Boom is used in many ways during an oil spill 

response, including the following:

Boom can be placed to exclude

oil from a sensitive stretch of

shoreline, such as a coastal marsh,

marina, seabird nesting area, or 

location where marine mammals

congregate. This diagram shows

how boom would be placed across

the mouth of a small inlet to prevent oil from entering the

inlet, with anchors used to keep the boom in place. Boom

placed to protect an area deflects oil; it does not collect it.

Boom can be placed around a vessel or tank that is

leaking oil. The boom confines the oil within a small

space so it can be collected.

Boom may be towed

behind boats to collect oil,

as in the photo at right. Oil

that collects in the apex of

a towed U-shaped boom

can either be

skimmed from the

water surface, or

towed away from

the main slick to a Fire Boom.

location where it is safe to burn it.

Types of Boom

Four main types of boom are used for oil spill 

response. Hard boom is typically made of PVC or 

similar durable material. It consists of an inflated 

chamber that rides above the water, and an attached skirt

that hangs down into the water. The two main types of

hard boom are ocean boom, designed for use in high seas,

and harbor boom, designed for sheltered waters. The 

primary difference between ocean and harbor boom is the

strength of the material, size of the flotation chamber, and

depth of the skirt.

Hard boom is used to contain oil. It may be placed

around a leaking vessel to corral oil, or anchored offshore

of a sensitive area to exclude oil from that area. Hard

boom also can be towed behind boats to concentrate oil

so that skimmers can recover it.

Fire boom is similar in design to hard boom, but is

made of material that can withstand the heat generated by

burning oil, which can exceed 2,000o F. Fire boom is

used to corral oil to be burned in an on site (in situ) 

burn operation.

(continued on back) (below) Hard Boom.
Sorbent boom looks 

like a long sausage. It is 

constructed of a long fabric

sock enclosing material that

attracts oil but repels water.

Unlike hard boom, sorbent boom does not have an 

attached skirt. Once saturated with oil, sorbent boom

must be removed and properly disposed of. It is used to

both contain and absorb oil on the water surface.

Snare boom looks like 

heerleaders’ pompoms tied to a

ong line. It is placed along

horelines, anchored by 

tanchions. The “pompom”

trands catch tarballs and 

ught by tides and waves. 

c

l

s

s

s

small quantities of oil bro

Effective Use of Boom

For several reasons, NOAA recommends that boom

be deployed and maintained in a coordinated strategy

with other response equipment. For one thing, not all

areas can be protected by boom; other response measures

must be adopted in those locations. And because there

typically aren’t enough resources to protect all sensitive

locations with boom, it is usually necessary to make

tradeoffs when deciding where and when to place boom.

For example, choosing to deploy boom to protect the 

entrance to an ecologically important coastal marsh rather

than a recreational beach.

Because boom, once placed in the water, is difficult

and time consuming to move, an effective strategy is to

stage boom so that it is ready for deployment, but waiting

to deploy until oil approaches the area. By using this

strategy, responders can ensure that the boom is placed at

the optimal location to protect against the oil, whether

that location proves to be the originally envisioned site or

a different location.

When boom is used to 

protect a shoreline, it must be

tethered securely so that it will

not be dislodged. Currents

faster than 1.5 knots or even wakes from passing ships

can dislodge boom. Rough seas and winds can tear, 

capsize, and shred boom. An effective method is to 

deploy concentric rings of boom to protect highly sensitive

areas in exposed areas. In estimating the amount of boom

needed to protect a given length of shoreline, responders

then need to consider whether multiple rings of boom

will be deployed.

Boom should never be set out and forgotten; deployed

boom must be monitored to ensure that it remains in

place. Untended boom can be a barricade to wildlife. For

example, dislodged boom can strand on shorelines and

prevent sea turtle adults and hatchlings from transiting

between shore and water. Dislodged boom anchors can

damage corals and sea grass beds. Untended boom also

can become a barrier and hazard to ship traffic. Marinas

and navigation channels must remain open for response

vessels and commercial traffic.

Sorbent boom designed for oil spill response should

be used whenever possible for most spill response uses,

because it is specifically designed to collect spilled oil

from the water surface. NOAA’s years of experience in

oil spill response and field testing indicate that sorbent

boom is much more effective than alternatives such as 

recycled nylon stockings stuffed with straw and hair. 

In a February 2010 NOAA field test, commercial 

sorbent boom absorbed more oil and much less water

than hair boom, which became waterlogged and sank

within an hour. NOAA foresees a risk that widespread 

deployment of hair boom could exacerbate the marine 

debris problem in the Gulf of Mexico, in that waterlogged

hair boom would be especially difficult to retrieve and

more likely to break apart. It is possible that hair sorbents

(absorbent pads) would be useful for collecting oil from

drier areas such as rocks and artificial structures.

Learn more about NOAA’s response to the BP oil spill

at http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/deepwaterhorizon.

To learn more about NOAA, visit http://www.noaa.gov.

May 18, 2010