Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Hawaii boat wreck shows danger of industry practices
Just offshore from Waikiki’s pristine white sand beaches, a fishing boat transporting foreign workers destined for low-paying jobs in Hawaii’s fishing fleet smashed into a shallow reef last month.
The stranded boat has been leaking oil and diesel ever since in an area prized by swimmers and surfers, and there was a visible sheen around the boat this week.
The crash of the 79-foot Pacific Paradise illustrates a potential environmental impact of the Hawaii fishing fleet’s practice of transporting foreign workers by boat.
The industry already faced criticism following a 2016 Associated Press investigation revealing that the workers from Southeast Asia and Pacific nations work without visas, some making less than $1 an hour and living in squalid conditions.
Swimmers and surfers say they feel and smell the petroleum even when they’re in the water far from the wreck site. Some visitors mistakenly assume the crippled boat is a tourist attraction.
The wrecked vessel had about 1,500 gallons of diesel and hydraulic oil left in its tanks after the vessel caught fire days after the Oct. 10 crash.
Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Scott Carr on Wednesday minimized the possibility of environmental damage, saying there is a sheen on the water but that diesel fuel evaporates quickly and that surf breaks it apart.
“The environment is fairly resilient,” Carr said.
Crews replaced booms aboard the Pacific Paradise to collect oily water and fuel leaking from the engine room of the crippled boat, according to a statement by the U.S. Coast Guard late Thursday. The boom has been in place since the grounding and is replaced as needed.
The team also secured danger signs on the hull, officials said.
The Coast Guard said the pollution removal will take several more weeks to complete.
Efforts to remove the boat have failed so far, but swimmer Chris McDonough said more should be done. He said his surfer friends can smell and feel the fuel in the water hundreds of yards away from the wreckage at a popular surfing spot.
“I could feel it on my skin,” the Honolulu resident said, adding that the boat removal attempts so far seem “like an inadequate response.”
The boat is a longline tuna fishing boat that somehow crashed into the shallow reef in the middle of the night as it headed to drop off the foreign workers for their transfer to other fishing boats.
No one aboard called for help when it ran aground, and the Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the crash. The crew members were taken into U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody and released to the boats that had contracted to bring them to the state.
While a salvage crew was preparing to tow the boat away, it caught fire and sent thick black smoke over tourists in Waikiki as the workers jumped off the burning deck and into the ocean. Another attempt using a powerful tug boat and specially designed cables also failed.