By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Salvage teams, the Coast Guard and the Department of Environmental Conservation are reporting that the fuel leaks from the grounded tug in Neva Strait have been stopped.
The DEC updated its situation report Thursday afternoon, noting that the exact quantity of diesel spilled is still unknown but progress is being made in the cleanup on the water.
“Source control has been achieved. Salvage crews confirmed on March 24, 2022, that no fuel is leaving the Western Mariner. Additionally, fuel has been removed from the engine room,” DEC said in its Thursday report.
The Department of Fish and Game is monitoring the situation as it makes aerial surveys of Sitka Sound in preparation for the sac roe herring fishery.
An oil sheen is pictured on Neva Strait near the grounded tug Western Mariner, Wednesday. (Photo provided by ADF&G)
The 83-foot tugboat Western Mariner lost steering in Neva Strait early Monday. The container barge under tow collided with the tug, which then went hard aground 17 miles northwest of Sitka. A fuel tank was ruptured in the accident.
The DEC said fuel manifolds on the tug were closed to prevent transfer between tanks. Response crews transferred an estimated 3,000 gallons of fuel from the leaking port forward tank into an assisting fishing tender vessel, and only a small amount of fuel remains in the tank, the DEC said.
The Thursday update said Global Diving and Salvage had completed sealing the two sources of fuel ingress into the engine room, as well as sources of oily water from the engine room to the environment. Hanson Maritime lightered 4,400 gallons of oil and water from the engine room, the environmental agency said.
“Two 600 gallon totes of oily water were recovered through the skimming operations,” DEC said in the update.
Heavy weather earlier this week displaced the containment boom, but Global and Hanson Maritime put it back in place on Wednesday.
Fish and Game reported Thursday that a flyover reported a sheen on the water in Neva Strait, Olga Strait, and into Krestof Sound to the north end of the Magoun Islands.
Also on Thursday, oil spill responder SEAPRO deployed additional boom in a J-configuration about 500 feet to the north and south of the beached tugboat to collect sheen escaping the two layers of containment boom directly around the vessel. The skimmer continues to operate within the inner containment boom to recover diesel that had already leaked from the Western Mariner before source control was achieved, DEC said.
The situation report updated the section on risk to resources, citing Fish and Game aerial observations.
On Thursday biologists saw 20,000 tons of herring in Hayward Strait moving into Krestof Sound. They also spotted broken sheening that reached into Olga Strait and Krestof Sound. Sheen also stretched south to the north end of the Magoun Islands.
“Subsequent overflights showed that the sheening outside of Neva Strait had dissipated throughout the day,” the DEC said. “The Magoun Islands hold significant cultural importance to local subsistence users and is an area where commercial fisheries take place. ADFG has transitioned the commercial herring fishery away from Hayward Strait to avoid potential impacts from oil.”
DEC said Hanson Maritime and Global “are prioritizing removing fuel from the damaged tank that is the a source of diesel in the engine room, and plan to begin removing fuel from other tanks on the vessel.”
Today’s plans called for SEAPRO to have crew on-site to “tend containment and J configuration boom at first morning light (today).”
DEC said other plans are for environmental shoreline assessments and wildlife observations this weekend.
The Coast Guard in Juneau said Global Diving and Salvage is looking at whether the vessel can be saved, and that the owner, Western Towboat Company, is responsible for its removal.
“We’re doing everything we can do to assist them,” said Coast Guard Lt. Jesse Collins, chief of waterways management division, at Sector Juneau, which is investigating the incident.
Coast Guard Air Station Sitka has conducted overflights of the area at least twice since the grounding. The Coast Guard Cutter Hickory was here in the initial days of the response, and the Cutter Bailey Barco has arrived from Ketchikan, both for the spill response and in connection with the herring fishery, Collins said. The Sitka-based vessel, Cutter Kukui, is in Seward undergoing maintenance.
