Divers have managed to stem the flow of fuel leaking from a fishing boat that that sank Sunday in Seward’s small-boat harbor, state officials say.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and U.S. Coast Guard responded after the F/V Nordic Viking sank at a dock just after noon Sunday, according to a DEC update Tuesday afternoon. The cause of the sinking wasn’t immediately known.
The Nordic Viking can carry 2,000 gallons of marine diesel and 500 gallons of gasoline, state regulators say. It also carried an unknown amount of engine oils. The boat’s owner told regulators the hull deck was carrying between 600 and 700 gallons of diesel and 50 gallons of gasoline when it sank.
A salvage contractor hired by the boat owner plugged the fuel tank vents and retrieved an absorbent containment boom that was pulled under by the boat when it shifted on Sunday. The boom was deployed around the vessel again, and the DEC said it would be monitored frequently. Responders have also deployed bird deterrents and additional boom in Scheffler Creek and a nearby lagoon.
DEC spokeswoman Lisa Krebs-Barsis said the gasoline tank does not appear to be leaking, and that no more noticeable oil sheen had been seen on the water since Tuesday morning. Any more fuel that does leak should be contained by the boom, she said.
Responders with the DEC and Coast Guard will continue to check the shoreline to see if more cleanup is necessary, and to observe wildlife around the area, the update said. As of Tuesday afternoon, no oiled wildlife either live or dead have been reported.
The small-boat harbor is home to several species of marine mammals, and birds and salmon use Scheffler Creek, south of the entrance to the boat harbor.