A barge and crane are being dispatched from Seattle to San Juan Island to help remove the Aleutian Isle, which had nearly 9,840 gallons of oil and diesel when it sank west of San Juan Island in Washington state on Aug. 13. The spill is in US waters, but marine correspondents say there’s a chance the oil could move into Canadian waters near Vancouver Island. Both the Canadian and US Coast Guards have responded. In a statement, the US Coast Guard said the sheen of oil in the water “remains minimal” and has now deployed more than 1,300 meters of absorbent boom to protect environmentally sensitive areas. Peter Ross, senior scientist for the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, said the spill happened in the middle of “critical habitat” for southern killer whales, of which there are only 74 left. Response vessels work at the site where a commercial fishing vessel carrying 9,840 liters of oil and diesel sank on August 13. (Washington State Department of Ecology/Flickr) The US Coast Guard said Monday that cross-border training with Canada’s Marine Mammal Unit is scheduled for Thursday. The team will prevent marine wildlife from entering the spill area if necessary. The Washington Department of Ecology has created a website specifically for incidents. Due to the depth of the sunken ship, the US Coast Guard says that specialized gas mixtures are being produced for divers who will participate in recovery efforts. “Once mixed, the gas must settle and be tested for proportionality and then shipped to the San Juan Island team,” according to a press release. The special gas mixtures, crane and barge are expected to arrive later in the week, when crews will begin removing the vessel.
