Sunken fishing vessel off San Juan Island brought to surface, crews evaluating next steps in removal

The U.S. Coast Guard has announced that the fishing vessel that sank off San Juan Island last month — leading to a fuel and oil spill — was lifted to the surface Saturday afternoon.

After bringing the Aleutian Isle to the surface, crews removed water and fuel from the vessel. In total, 775 gallons of an oily-water mixture were removed, according to a news release.

However, crews weren’t able to safely access all parts of the vessel, and the Coast Guard said its weight exceeds what would be safe for the existing recovery plan.

According to the news release, “the unified command is reevaluating the best path forward.”

“Raising the vessel to the surface is certainly a success, but the complexity of this operation continues to challenge our team,” said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Kira Moody, incident command. “Lifting the boat was a critical first step to minimize the ongoing pollution risk. The next step will likely involve relocating the crane barge to a more sheltered location where we can fully secure the boat with far less risk to our divers and crew and better protect the environment from any lingering pollution risk.”

The Coast Guard said pollution mitigation strategies have been effective, and that observations of fuel released while the vessel was lifted to the surface were kept “within expected amounts.”

Wildlife and pollution mitigation teams were also involved in the effort, deterring birds from the oil and fuel during the lifting operation.

The Coast Guard estimates that recovery operations will resume in the next day or two.

Members of the public are asked to call the National Response Center at 800-424-8802 if they see uncontained fuel and any oil sheen. If you see oiled wildlife, call 800-22-BIRDS.

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