ALAMEDA — The oil spilled into San Francisco Bay last week has been almost entirely cleaned up along the western Alameda coast, but nearby shoreline fisheries are likely to remain closed for about two weeks, officials said Tuesday.

Shoreline fishing was shut down between the Bay Bridge and the San Mateo Bridge on the east side of the bay after a ship called the Dubai Star spilled between 400 and 800 gallons of oil into the water while refueling on its way to Richmond Friday, officials said.

Samples of mussels, which research has shown are among the best sea life for testing contamination, were taken on Friday before the oil could have reached them and again over the weekend to compare whether they'd been dangerously affected by the spill, California Department of Fish and Game Lt. Rob Roberts said.

However, mussels' slow metabolism, which is part of what makes them good test subjects, also means that the samples wouldn't show symptoms of contamination for at least another week, he said.

Though crab season opens Friday, Dungeness crabs can only be legally caught outside of the bay, so the closure should not adversely affect the season, he added.

Thirty-four of the 36 oiled birds recovered over the weekend remained alive in captivity, and the discovery of more affected birds had slowed dramatically by Tuesday afternoon, Roberts said.

Though early estimates predicted several dozen birds could be killed in the spill's


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aftermath, "we don't always have 75 and 80 degree weather in November," Roberts said. "Birds up north from here are waiting for it to get colder before they fly down this way, so not as many birds were here to be affected."

As of Tuesday, no other wildlife had been reported harmed by the spill. By comparison, in 2007 the Cosco Busan spilled more than 50,000 gallons of oil into the bay, killing more than 6,600 birds,

The investigation into what caused the latest spill is ongoing and could take several weeks, U.S. Coast Guard Commander Stephen Chamberlin said. Research into the incident will be "lengthy, detailed and robust," including a review of the ship's response plan for similar occurrences, training and communications logs, interviews with the crew and an examination of the vessel itself, he said.

Barry McFarland, acting as incident commander for the company that both owns the ship and is fronting expenses for the cleanup, said Tuesday that hazardous materials contractors have completed between 80 percent and 90 percent of the initial oil removal, though more oil could surface as tides change.