Salvage teams, the U.S. Coast Guard and state Department of Environmental Conservation reported last Thursday that fuel leaks from the grounded tug in Neva Strait 17 miles northwest of Sitka have been stopped.
The state agency updated its situation report Thursday afternoon, noting that the exact quantity of diesel spilled is unknown but progress is being made in the cleanup on the water around the 83-foot tugboat Western Mariner. “Additionally, fuel has been removed from the engine room,” the department said in its report.
The Department of Fish and Game is monitoring the situation as it makes aerial surveys of Sitka Sound in preparation for the upcoming sac roe herring commercial fishery.
The tugboat lost steering in Neva Strait early March 21. The container barge under tow collided with the tug, which then went hard aground. A fuel tank was ruptured in the accident.
The department 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 state said.
Last Thursday’s update said Global Diving and Salvage had completed sealing the two sources of fuel access into the engine room, as well as sources of oily water from the engine room leaking into the water. 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,” the state said in the update.
Heavy weather earlier in the week displaced the containment boom, but Global and Hanson Maritime put it back in place.
Fish and Game reported last 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 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. A 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.
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 Co., is responsible for its removal.
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