As an assessment continues on a drill rig refloated after
being grounded off of Kodiak Island and towed to safe haven, officials in
charge have developed mitigation strategies to deal with potential impacts to a
tanner crab fishery set to open today.
Officials with the Unified Command say they have developed
mitigation strategies collaboratively with the Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative
to reduce impacts to the fishery during the crab season, which normally lasts
several days. The Unified Command said a marine coordinator will be onsite to
coordinate the movement of response vessels, and updates will be provided every
four hours to crab fishermen.
In addition a claims process has been established for any
crab harvester losses that occur as a result of the drill rig Kulluk’s
presence in Kodiak Island’s Kiliuda Bay during this year’s tanner crab fishing
season.
To date there have been no reports of leakage of any fuel
from the drill rig owned by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which grounded during stormy
winter weather off a remote island near Kodiak Island on New Year’s Eve. The
rig, which was employed for offshore drilling in the Arctic this past fall, was
being towed from Dutch Harbor to Seattle for maintenance.
On Jan. 10, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued
two separate notices of violation to Shell for Clean Air Act permits for the Kulluk
drill rig and Discoverer drillship and fleet for oil and gas exploration in
the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
That announcement was based on EPA’s inspections of the Discoverer
and the Kulluk, from which the EPA determined that Shell had multiple
permit violations for each during the 2012 drilling season. Shell was also
notified by the EPA that the agency had terminated the September 2012
compliance order for the Discoverer’s permit. This action
does not preclude Shell from applying for future permits.
Meanwhile, the US Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak has
temporarily deployed two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews to St. Paul Island to
safeguard the crab fleet and other fishing vessels engaged in winter fisheries
in Southwestern Alaska. There was some concern after the Kulluk grounded that the
demand on Coast Guard resources might adversely affect its ability to come to
the aid of commercial harvesters engaged in winter crab and groundfish
fisheries.
The Kodiak-based Coast Guard Cutter Munro, a high endurance
cutter, will also be in the region outfitted with an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter
crew from Air Station Kodiak aboard.