In the last issue of the newsletter, you might have seen a photo of the large fishing boat that got stuck on the beach at Salmon Creek, along the Sonoma County coast, in the wee hours Saturday morning. The whole crew was rescued in a huge operation involving three agencies — the California Highway Patrol air division, the Sonoma County Fire District and the U.S. Coast Guard — before the sun even had a chance to rise. But dealing with the boat itself has turned into a much longer-term ordeal — one that may also now be threatening the local ecosystem, given that around 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel are on board. As of last night, the “58-foot, 57-ton steel vessel” was still stranded, according to the Press Democrat. Enhancing all this nautical drama is the fact that the boat’s name is literally “Aleutian Storm.” Jonny Jackson, that Indigenous crab fisherman in Bodega Bay who I mentioned few newsletters ago, posted on social media Saturday night: “Help is needed to get this boat back in the ocean where it belongs. Anyone that can meet at 6-730 in Bodega with a shovel to help dig out a channel so boats can pull her back out, please help. To be clear, this is not our boat, but This is someone’s livelihood and appreciation will be shown in some free crab to anyone that can help.” The next afternoon, he gave a defeated update: “Unfortunately no glory today even with 60 people coming out to help, the tow line broke twice. It was hard to see it happen as you can tell before the line broke it was coming.” A rep for the Coast Guard tells the Press Democrat that crews made three attempts to tow the Aleutian out to open water on Sunday and Monday — all of which failed. So by yesterday, they instead started focusing on pumping the fuel out of the beached boat during low tide. It’s now “listing profoundly to one side, with waves crashing over the side, making it dangerous to board,” the PD reports — but the boat “moves less at low tide, offering an opportunity for salvage crews to locate the fuel tanks and begin vacuuming diesel to receptacles on the beach.” Coast Guard officials say they’re planning on heading back out first thing again Wednesday to remove more fuel. Then, once “the risk of pollution is resolved,” they can finally start talking about how to get the actual boat out of there. (Source: Sonoma County Fire District via Facebook & Pacific Native Fisheries via Facebook & Mike McGuire via Facebook & Sonoma Magazine & Press Democrat; paywall)
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