Orange Beach has been asking BP to hand over the official list of boats that have been assigned as Vessels of Opportunity to assist with the oil spill situation, hoping to make sure that local boat captains and boat owners were given first opportunities to go to work.

On Tuesday, the list finally made its way to city hall and now Mayor Tony Kennon hopes to get to work, going over the list and seeing what can be done to give more local residents with boats a chance to get back in the water.

The question remains, however, how will that process work?

“We just got it today, so I don’t know,” said Kennon. “We are just going to have to sit down and go through it.

Kennon said that they will likely put together a committee to go through the list, but first, a plan has to be developed that will make sense.

“We have to first establish what we think is fair and right, and I don’t know that we have the right to kick anybody out. But we are going to go through it and if I see that there are out-of-town and out-of-state vessels, I am going to request that BP reevaluate the situation.”

Many local boat owners and captains have been frustrated that, even after going through the training to be part of the Vessels of Opportunity Program, they had not been contacted. Yet they have seen numerous boats from out of state being deployed to work.

According to BP, the plan was to first hire local commercial fishermen who had been put out of work due to fishing restrictions because of the oil spill.

Kennon said that the city would make the Vessels of Opportunity list public knowledge.

“Once it comes to a public entity like a municipality, I don’t see why we would want to keep it a secret.”

At the time Kennon spoke with The Islander, he was unsure how many vessels were on the list.