Photo Courtesy of Washington State Department of Ecology - Pictured is the 77-foot fishing vessel Lady Lillian surrounded by boom after it sank at the Westport Marina, on Sept. 4.
WESTPORT - Coast Guard and Washington State Department of Ecology personnel completed pollution mitigation work on the 77-foot fishing vessel Lady Lillian Tuesday evening.
Incident Management Division personnel from Coast Guard Sector Columbia River opened the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and contracted Global Diving and Salvage to plug vents and empty fuel tanks on the vessel, which sank early Sunday, Sept. 4. State Department of Ecology and Grays Harbor staff also deployed an oil spill containment boom and cleanup pads around the sunken vessel as part of the mitigation efforts.
Watchstanders at Sector Columbia River received the report of the sunken vessel around 6:40 a.m. Sunday from members at Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor, who had verified the initial notification of the incident they received from marina staff.
An estimated 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel was recovered from the vessel's tanks. Initial reports had estimated the on-board fuel at only 1,000 gallons.
"We are pleased that we were able to recover 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel from this vessel and were able abate the pollution threat," said Chief Petty Officer Bradley Bennett, federal on-scene coordinator representative. "We always respond to the maximum potential spill and not to the quoted amount on board for this exact reason."
The owner of the vessel and marina personnel continued salvage efforts on the Lady Lillian on Wednesday.
The boom and clean-up pads utilized came from a Department of Ecology spill response supply trailer kept at the port, one of more than 100 positioned around the state.