NEWPORT, Ore. – The Coast Guard is responding to a pollution incident from a sunken fishing vessel in Yaquina Bay, Ore., Sunday.
The 65-foot wooden fishing vessel, Helen McColl, sank while moored at Port Dock Five. Coast Guard Station Yaquina Bay, along with the Port of Newport, Ore., responded to and boomed off the estimated 30 gallons of diesel fuel discharged into the water at approximately 7 a.m.
Coast Guard Sector Portland pollution investigators will work with local oil spill clean-up contractors to remove the remaining diesel fuel from both the water and the vessel.
“The Coast Guard takes all pollution cases seriously and responds with due diligence to mitigate any environmental damage to the waterways and surrounding area,” said Lt.j.g. Joshua Mattulat, Assistant Branch Chief of Sector Portland’s Incident Management Division.
Under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the Coast Guard has the authority to conduct all pollution investigations and direct pollution cleanup efforts.
The cause of the sinking is under investigation.
