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U.S. Coast Guard Seventeenth District

Fishing vessel grounds on environmentally sensitive Alaskan island, Coast Guard removes 19,000 gallons of fuel 

Editor's Note: Story and images by Petty Officer 3rd Class Walter Shinn.
Additional imagery is available at http://cgvi.uscg.mil enter Mar-Gun in the search window.

At the crack of dawn on a Thursday morning in early March, the captain of the fishing vessel Mar-Gun gave a call over HF radio to the Coast Guard at Communcations Station Kodiak saying his vessel had run aground on St. George Island, Alaska, with five crew members aboard and was carrying nearly 19,000 gallons of fuel. 

Staraya Beach, where the Mar-Gun ran aground, is adjacent to an archeological site from an historic Russian Aleutian settlement.  The fuel and lube oil posed an immediate threat to fur seal and sea lion rookeries, haul outs and many species of marine birds which use the area for refuge from the unforgiving Bering Sea. 

Once the Coast Guard safely rescued the five crew members, efforts immediately shifted from rescue to pollution mitigation. 

Due to the potential harm to the environmental and archeological area, a team of six members from the National Strike Force Pacific Strike Team were launched.  It took the Pacific Strike Team 30 hours to travel from Novato, Calif., to St. George Island, Alaska, due in large part to the remoteness of the location.  In the Lower 48, it would have only taken the team three to four hours, depending on where the incident was and its severity.  

The Pacific Strike Team is one of three Special Teams that make up the National Strike Force. They are a vital national asset comprised of highly trained and dedicated Coast Guard professionals, who rapidly deploy with specialized equipment and incident management skills any time to any place for any hazard.  The team of six members who deployed were Chief Warrant Officer Mark Gregory, Chief Petty Officer Alan Dooley, Petty Officer 1^st Class Bianca Witkowski, Petty Officer 1^st Class Erik Vonstockhausen, Petty Officer 2^nd Class Adam Anderson and Petty Officer 2^nd Class Bret Steinle. They got the call at 9 a.m., in the middle of a training exercise, packed their bags and were on a plane two hours later. 

The Strike Team, based out of Novato, Calif., flew from San Francisco through Seattle and to Anchorage, Alaska.  The team needed to stop in Anchorage to acquire several pieces of a fuel hose, connecting pieces, along with other supplies needed to make the response a success and were not available due to the remote location of the incident.  In Anchorage they went through the equipment, which is pre-staged by personnel from Sector Anchorage.  The equipment is permanently stored on the Ft. Richardson Army Base at the Navy Supervisor of Salvage Warehouse. The equipment and a few thousand feet of hose were loaded onto a Coast Guard C-130, from Air Station Kodiak, and flown from Anchorage to St. George Island. The team loaded up and after nearly 48 hours of travel time they arrived on St. George. They immediately began response efforts in the archeological and environmentally sensitive area called Staraya Artil Rookery.   

"The tactics employed and the use of the Strike Team allowed us to take advantage of the first weather window after the grounding and not waste valuable time." said Cmdr. Joseph LoSciuto, deputy commander Coast Guard Sector Anchorage and federal on-scene coordinator for the response.  

In addition to the Pacific Strike Team response, Coast Guard personnel from several Western Alaska units were mobilized in an effort to support the civilian responders hired by the owner of the Mar-Gun. Responders raced against the closing weather window to begin operations. A second charter flight with additional Coast Guard and state personnel left Anchorage for St. George Friday with the additional response members. 

It was recognized early on by the responders on scene and in the Anchorage command post that this would be a difficult task to be accomplished on a remote island in the Bering Sea, a sea which has a reputation for violent weather conditions.  Two days after the grounding proved to be the worst day of the lightering operation.  Snow was blowing horizontally, which felt like sand paper scraping across the face upon looking in to the wind.  

The snow turned into ice pellets, which left a stinging sensation when the wind blew 30 to 40 mph. If it wasn’t the snow or ice pellets, it was the wind itself proving to be the most painful.  Temperatures hovered around 10 to 20 degrees, which felt more like 20 below zero with the wind.  With the cold temperatures and high winds that created heavy surf conditions, getting to and from the Mar-Gun  was difficult for the Strike Team.  Dan Magone, owner of Magone Marine out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, along with locals built a system of pulleys extending from shore to the vessel enabling a small inflatable boat to be pulled safely to the ship.  As safe as it was, Pacific Strike Team members still had to charge their way through six to 10-foot waves.   

Along the pulley system, the transfer hoses were attached by a series of carabineers.  The Pacific Strike Team members pulled the bumblebee line, which is called so by the effect caused as the carabineers race across the line one after another.  Everything appeared to be going smoothly until a rogue wave appeared from seemingly nowhere and tangled the 150 pounds of connecting transfer hose.  With it tangled in the line, it made a hard task much more difficult.  Although it was difficult to do three Pacific Strike Team members, accompanied by a crew member from the Mar-Gun, were able to successfully pull the transfer hose on board the vessel.  The Pacific Strike Team members could then begin the process of lightering the vessel. 

The bulk of the lightering process took six days.  In that time, the Pacific Strike Team members assisted by Dan Magone and his company employees were able to safely pump a total of 19,000 gallons of fuel. 

Shoreline clean-up and assessment teams (SCAT) assessed the area during fuel lightering operations. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation accompanied by two Coast Guard  Marine Science Technicians assessed the area in the days immediately following the grounding. A light intermittent diesel sheen was sighted Thursday, but due to the properties of diesel it evaporated quickly. No impact had been seen on the shoreline. The state is working with a contractors to establish a subsistence sampling program to ensure the safety of the local village who rely on local resources for nourishment. 

“In my 25 year career, this is the best Coast Guard success story I have ever been apart of,” said LoSciuto.  

Salvage efforts continue through April and possibly even May.  Magone Marine is coordinating the efforts to refloat the Mar-Gun.  The Redeemer, a vessel owned by Magone Marine, set three anchors on the ocean floor, on the starboard side of the Mar-Gun. Two 10,000 pound anchors and one 8,000 pound anchor were set in place.  As each anchor was set a commercial helicopter carried the free end of the anchor line to the crew on the Mar-Gun where it was attached to a rigging system. Tension will be applied to the lines to attempt to winch the Mar-Gun of the beach stern first.  This method is more effective than using a tug due to the low water depth of the surrounding area. The tension system also produces more force than any available tug.  

If they are successful at pulling the vessel off the beach they will conduct an assessment of its hull and seaworthiness, determine if further repairs are needed or if the Redeemer can continue to tow it to Dutch Harbor. 

If they aren’t successful at refloating the Mar-Gun, efforts will have to wait until the next high tide cycle in mid-May which could potentially conflict with the fur seals returning to the nearby rookery.

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