Three sets of booms remain in place around a capsized crane on a barge in Milford Sound, while plans are put in place to salvage the crane.

Environment Southland has stood down its oil spill response team until the salvage operation gets underway, Regional On-Scene Commander Dallas Bradley said.

The four staff from Environment Southland and Port Maintenance at Bluff have returned home, but left equipment, including booms, skimmers and sorbent material, at Milford. The team will return when the crane is salvaged, ready to respond to any spillage of oil that may occur as the crane is righted. The timing of that operation will be determined by the crane's owner.

There is still 1600 litres of hydraulic oil on the barge plus 200 litres of diesel and 24 litres of engine oil in the crane.

The barge and crane have remained stable since the accident on Wednesday afternoon and no oil is leaking.