Alaska Closes Fisheries Near Oil Spill

State regulators have halted all commercial fishing in the Bering Sea near the wreckage of a grounded freighter where fuel oil has contaminated the water.

The state Division of Commercial Fisheries order affects the Makushin Bay and Skan Bay tanner crab fishery, which had been scheduled to open to fishermen Jan. 15. Also closed will be Pacific cod and black rockfish fisheries and fisheries for other groundfish that would have opened Saturday.

The closed state waters stretch from Spray Cape to Cape Kovrizhka along the western side of Unalaska Island, about 800 miles southwest of Anchorage.

In between the two capes lies the wreckage of the 738-foot Selendang Ayu, which has been leaking oil and diesel since it wrecked there Dec. 8. An estimated 424,000 gallons of intermediate fuel oil and 18,000 gallons of diesel were on board. More than 210,000 gallons are now presumed lost.

Authorities want to begin taking fuel today from the stern section of the freighter. A salvage team has been preparing for the operation to remove more than 80,000 gallons of fuel from two tanks near the engine room.

Denby Lloyd, regional supervisor for the Division of Commercial Fisheries, said 10 of 21 test crab pots retrieved Monday had some sign of oil contamination.

Lloyd said he did not know how long the fisheries’ season would be delayed, or if they would be closed for the entire season.

The tanner crab fishery, with a harvest set at about 171,000 pounds this season, was scheduled to last until March.

“The fishing area has been closed until further notice,” Lloyd said. “Although it’s possible it will be cleared, we’re not sure it is very likely.”

The closure is likely to affect 20 to 30 vessels that fish the area, according to Henry Mitchell, executive director of the Bering Sea Fisherman’s Assn.

Mitchell declined to estimate the economic effect on closing the fisheries, although he said the eastern Bering Sea was one of the world’s most productive habitats for fish and shellfish.

The area will remain closed until monitoring by the state Department of Environmental Conservation shows the threat of contamination is gone.