ABSTRACT PAPER307s2
On August 13, 2022, the United States Coast Guard contacted the NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator about the F/V Aleutian Isle that sank off San Juan Island, WA. The vessel had approximately 2,500 gallons of diesel on board. Later that evening, the vessel began to release an oil sheen.
What began as a typical fishing vessel oil spill response quickly evolved into a perfect storm of complex challenges. The location of the incident occurred near the U.S.–Canadian Border, in tribal fishing waters, and in a sensitive environment that is habitat to the endangered southern resident killer whales. The vessel sank near drinking water intakes, along a high economic use coastline, with purse seine nets still attached, posing a hazard to wildlife and divers. These challenges stirred public, economic, and political interest in this already complex response.
The area of the Salish Sea where the vessel sank has a very steep seafloor and the vessel quickly slid to deeper water of about 67 meters (or 220 feet). Salvage operations at that depth are always challenging, but in this region, there are also very strong tidal currents so divers could only work safely during slack tide. The nearby tidal current predictions did not correlate well with the onsite observations experienced by the divers, so predicting slack tide quickly became a challenge.
A novel working group of scientific experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS) Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) and (Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) was created to support the USCG and Unified Command for this 42-day response. This team reviewed results from oceanographic models, streamlined data sharing with an on-site contractor who had deployed a current meter, and produced ten site-specific predictions for the timing of slack current. These were briefed daily to identify the expected times for slack water to improve safety of salvage dive operations.
The NOAA collaborative team provided technical and scientific expertise to improve safety of operations, protect endangered species, minimize impacts to the economy and environment, and ultimately remove the vessel and pollution from the ocean.