The F/V Evening Star, in a picture taken by Global Diving & Salvage crews from Anchorage, shows the vessel underwater about 40 miles northwest of Sitka. The vessel sank Aug. 2 in nearly 60 feet of water.
Alaska State fishery managers have determined that a mile-long oil sheen northwest of Sitka is from a fishing boat that sank earlier this month.
The F/V Evening Star, a 50-foot seiner home-ported in Ilwaco, Wash., sank on Aug. 2 in nearly 60 feet of water during a fishing trip in Slocum Arm, which is about 40 miles northwest of Sitka. The vessel was reported at the time to have had as much as 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel aboard.
According to witnesses on board, the vessel capsized while pulling in loaded salmon nets.
The large oil sheen was reported on Aug. 7, after a flight by officials of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game inspected the area. A smaller sheen of oil was reported at the time of the sinking and forced the closure of a salmon fishery in the area.
A response team from the Ketchikan-based Southeast Alaska Petroleum Resource Organization arrived on scene on Aug. 8 to install a boom surrounding the vessel and mop up any new oil releases as they happen.
Plans to remove fuel from the vessel and salvage it are scheduled to begin this week.
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