Monday, November 1^st, CIRCAC received notification from Sector Anchorage of an ongoing incident that had occurred over the weekend at Black Point on Kodiak (Sitkalidak Island in SE Kodiak). The Fishing Vessel (F/V) LAURA had run aground and was taking on water. The vessel’s crew abandoned ship and was subsequently rescued. The vessel master reported approximately 3000 gallons of diesel on board and some sheening was observed.

Alaska Marine Surveyors conducted an overflight to survey the grounded F/V LAURA to evaluate the vessel’s condition. The Overflight also searched a large portion of the shoreline and no sheening or debris was observed outside of the immediate area of the vessel. The vessel had repositioned but is still hard aground with the vessel’s portside, wheelhouse, and fuel tanks completely submerged and no longer visible.

Over the weekend of November 6 and 7, the community of Old Harbor traveled to the beach adjacent to the site of the vessel grounding to conduct cleanup of debris released from the vessel when it broke up. Several 5-gallon buckets containing oil were recovered during this beach cleanup.

Nets from the vessel have been observed entrained in the sand and cobble on the beach. An additional net was observed to be “open” in the water on November 8th during an overflight. This net will be evaluated during the afternoon of November 9th. Efforts to organize the removal of these nets are underway and will be part of additional efforts to evaluate potential shoreline impacts and remove remaining debris. The vessel is currently in multiple pieces, some of which have drifted onto shore on Sitkalidak Island, and some remain submerged at the site of the original grounding. Salvage of the vessel for scrapping is being coordinated.