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Crane hauls to surface fishboat that sank off San Juan Island

The Aleutian Isle was brought alongside a barge and is being taken to shallower waters where it’s easier to remove fuel and rigging
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The Aleutian Island emerges after crane lift on Saturday. DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS CANADA

The fishing boat that sank off San Juan Island last month has been hauled to the surface.

A crane hoisted the Aleutian Isle from about 60 metres and brought it alongside a barge over the weekend in Haro Strait about 25 kilometres east of Victoria.

The boat went down Aug. 13 loaded with 10,000 litres of diesel and oil. The four-person crew was rescued immediately.

The Washington Department of Ecology said Monday that the Aleutian Isle is connected to the barge and will be moved Tuesday to shallower waters in Mitchell Bay, where it will be easier to remove some of the fuel and rigging so it can be lifted to the barge deck.

The water depth in the area allows divers to work longer and more safely, a spokesperson said.

Crews were able to partially drain the vessel alongside the barge and remove about 3,500 litres of oily water mixture. However, they were unable to safely access all spaces of the fishing boat.

The remaining liquid makes the Aleutian Isle too heavy to be moved onto the barge, and the configuration of the rigging is putting too much stress on the vessel’s structure, which could cause it to break and release the remaining fuel, the department of ecology spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, wildlife response crews had to take action to deter two transient killer whales that got too close to the operations area at Lime Kiln, using hammers and oikomi pipes to move the whales out of the area and staying with the whales until they left.

dkloster@timescolonist.com