HALIFAX, Nova Scotia -- The owners of a barge that sank on lobster grounds off southwestern Nova Scotia in November is presenting a report that probes what should be done about the 18,000 gallons of diesel aboard the wreck.

The report, prepared for New Brunswick's J.D. Irving Ltd., is based on data from a small, unmanned submarine that recorded video of the dredging barge that sank.

Company spokesman Geoff Britt says officials have yet to decide whether to recover the 138-foot vessel or the fuel aboard.

The Shovel Master, a dredging barge based in Saint John, New Brunswick, sank in rough seas 50 miles south of Yarmouth on Nov. 22 as it was being towed to Halifax. So far, very little of the barge's fuel or other lubricants have leaked out.

The barge is resting upside down at a depth of about 500 feet, on the outer edge of Nova Scotia's lobster grounds east of Maine.