SAN FRANCISCO BAY (BCN) – On Friday, the tanker that leaked hundreds of gallons of oil into the San  Francisco Bay last week departed from Pier 80 in San Francisco while crews continued to wind down their response to the spill.

A mechanical failure that occurred during a bunkering operation  with a fuel barge Oct. 31 caused the Panamanian tanker Dubai Star to leak  between 400 and 800 gallons of oil into the Bay two miles south of the San  Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The Dubai Star was taken to Pier 80 while authorities investigated  the spill, but the vessel left for Martinez Thursday afternoon to unload its  cargo, according to Lt. Andrew Kennedy.

Cleanup crews continue to work on controlling the damage caused by  the spill, which has resulted in the deaths of 24 shorebirds and sent 37  others to an Oiled Wildlife Care Network treatment center in Fairfield.

By the end of Thursday, 8,900 feet of boom, a sponge-like material  used to soak up the oil, remained in the Bay compared to a total of 36,500  feet containing the spill last weekend.

More than 330 people were working on the cleanup during peak  efforts on Sunday, but that number dropped to about 200 as of Thursday,  according to the Coast Guard.

Crews continue to cleanup the shoreline at Robert Crown Memorial  State Beach in Alameda, as well as in Ballena Bay and on Bay Farm Island.

Friday, the East Bay Regional Park District reopened two of four  closed shoreline areas that had been off limits due to the oil spill.

Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland and Encinal Beach at  Alameda Point in Alameda are now open, according to district officials.

Robert Crown Memorial State Beach and the boat ramps at Martin  Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline Park in Oakland remain closed.
 
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