PORT ORCHARD — A 40-foot fishing vessel moored at the Port Orchard Marina sank on Feb. 28, prompting a multiple-agency response in an effort to prevent spillage of hazardous materials on board.
Kathy Garcia, the marina operations manager for the Port of Bremerton, said the port received a call around 9 a.m. Feb. 28 that a fishing vessel named Alaskan Night, moored in a slip reserved for the Suquamish Tribe’s fishing vessels, was taking on water. Fifteen minutes later, Garcia said the port’s responders had pumps operating in an attempt to keep the boat from sinking.
It quickly became apparent, however, that the pumps wouldn’t be able to keep up with the rate at which the vessel was taking on water. A decision was made to boom off the boat in order to mitigate contamination from fuel and other contaminants.
“We have access to the Department of Ecology fuel spill trailer, which is on site,” Garcia said. “We immediately got into our port boat and put the hard boom and soft boom in place as well as absorbent pads. Per protocol and procedure, all necessary agencies were notified.”
On the scene were officials from the Coast Guard, Department of Ecology and eventually a dive team that worked to plug the suspected holes in the boat before inflating airbags to float the vessel.
Luckily, Garcia said, there was little fuel on board the vessel when it sank. The major contaminants spilled appeared to be motor oil that was mostly contained by the absorbent pads.
“We didn’t actually see much diesel in the water at all,” Garcia said.
“It was reported that there were less than five gallons on board. What we did have was some motor oil in the water that was soaked up with absorbent pads and the boom. This was a very low impact environmental issue, fortunately.”
Garcia said the boat was not a derelict, and that the owners frequently came down to check on the vessel.
“I have a report from the diver that there was a soft spot in the wood and when the water seeped in, hit the fair weather seams and it just gave way,” Garcia said.
“The owners of the vessel were very responsive and have been very diligent in taking care of the issue and working with us and all of the agencies. Sometimes boats sink. I don’t want people to get the assumption that these people weren’t taking care of their boat.”
On Twitter, Department of Ecology spokesman Larry Altose thanked the Port of Bremerton for their rapid response in preventing a spill that could have been much worse had they not responded so quickly.
“[Port of Bremerton’s] prompt early action Wednesday morning kept [the] lube oil spill confined. Only several [gallons were] on board, but that could have spread a sizable sheen in Sinclair Inlet. We appreciate our local first response partners!” the tweet read.
— Nick Twietmeyer is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. Nick can be reached at ntwietmeyer@soundpublishing.com.
