COURTESY U.S. COAST GUARD The Coast Guard is formulating a plan to remove the ship Casitas from the coral reef reserve where it was grounded in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands on Saturday.

Ship rescue from
atoll begins

Crew members from the grounded ship Casitas were expected back on Oahu today as a team of Coast Guard specialists begins determining how to get the ship off the reef at Pearl and Hermes Atoll.

Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials still weren't giving specifics yesterday about how the 145-foot Casitas became grounded Saturday about 1,000 miles northwest of Honolulu. There were six ship's crew members and 17 NOAA-affiliated workers aboard.

Three members of the Coast Guard National Strike Force Team Pacific, which specializes in marine environmental response, will be taken to the Casitas today by the NOAA ship Oscar Alton Sette and will analyze how to safety get fuels off the Casitas and refloat it, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson.

The Coast Guard cutter Walnut, which has oil-spill equipment aboard, is under way and will join the rescue effort Friday, Johnson said.

The Casitas is under contract to NOAA to remove marine debris from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which are home to endangered Hawaiian monk seals and threatened green sea turtles. It is owned by Richard and Peter Kelly, Fishing Vessel Northwind Inc.

Three government agencies share responsibility for the care of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands:

» The U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge encompasses all land and waters out to 60 feet deep, which is where the Casitas is stranded.

» The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has responsibility for Kure Island and for waters between the Fish & Wildlife refuge borders and three miles from land.

» The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve begins at three miles from land and extends 50 miles to sea.

The status of NOAA's marine debris cleanup in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is on hold until a damage assessment of the Casitas is complete, NOAA Fisheries spokeswoman Wende Goo said yesterday. However, the long-term agency commitment to marine debris removal remains, she said.

On Friday, the U.S. Senate passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Dan Inouye that would call for increased efforts to reduce marine debris. The Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act (S. 362), which is co-sponsored by Sen. Daniel Akaka, now moves to the House of Representatives.