Hazardous materials removed from grounded ship

APRA HARBOR, Guam—The U.S. Navy, in partnership with other federal and local agencies, removed heavy oil, diesel fuel, and batteries from the grounded Japanese commercial fishing vessel Daiki Maru 7 in outer Apra Harbor yesterday, Feb. 16.

Approximately 100 gallons of lubrication oil, 50 gallons of diesel fuel, 20 gallons of hydraulic oil and multiple marine batteries were safely removed, significantly lowering the amount of major hazardous materials on board the grounded vessel. Divers also assessed the condition of the fiberglass diesel fuel tanks and determined that about 40 percent of the total capacity of diesel fuel potentially remains on board. Environmental assessment teams on the shore determined that no sheen or residue has been found on the beaches near the vessel.

Throughout the day teams on shore loaded piles of debris onto backpacks and hiked the materials off the beach via the Spanish Steps trail.

“The on-site team reached an important milestone today by safely removing the majority of the heavy oils and other hazardous materials off the vessel” said Dennis Siler, Naval Base Guam Operations Manager. “Given the close proximity to a very environmentally sensitive area, today’s operations ensure the materials that could do significant damage are out of the picture and allow us to focus on the less hazardous diesel fuel and the salvage of the vessel.”

The Navy and all partners in the unified command are taking all the necessary steps to address the situation and ensure the protection of the environment. The unified command maintains a top priority of assessing, planning for, and removing hazardous materials from the vessel to mitigate damage to the environment.

The unified command consists of representatives from Naval Base Guam, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam, Guam Environmental Protection Agency, and the responsible party. Other agencies that have been involved in all aspects of planning from the standup include Joint Region Marianas Operations, Naval Facilities Command Environmental personnel, the HYPERLINK “http://www.noaa.gov/” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Guam Fish and Wildlife Service, Cabras Marine and Osroco.

“As soon as we heard the news of the grounding, an environmental assessment team went out there to check for any possible damage that may have occurred to the reef or the sea turtles,” said Anne Brooke, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Marianas conservation program manager. “This is a joint effort by a host of agencies. We train for this kind of thing and are very proficient at this.” [I](PR)[/I]