(Courtesy/Sam Cargill) Haines harbormaster Henry Pollan and Takshanuk Watershed Council executive director Derek Poinsette pose for a photo with the borough’s new bilge pump cleaner on Jan. 28, 2026, in Haines, Alaska. Mystery sheens on the water are a perpetual problem in many harbors, Haines’ included. It’s called the Bilge Licker and it functions as an automated oil and water separator. “It has a thing like a tongue that licks the oil out,” said Takshanuk Watershed Council executive director Derek Poinsette. “You have to go in there and suck it out manually with one of those hand pumps and then you’ve got this oil water.