COUPEVILLE — The sinking of the Deep Sea in Penn Cove off Whidbey Island has cost the state an estimated $350,000 so far, the state Department of Ecology said last week.
The 140-foot crab boat sank May 13 after catching fire shortly before midnight the night of May 12.
The Coast Guard reported that a contractor removed more than 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel from the water.
Penn Cove Shellfish of Whidbey Island moved its harvesting crew to Quilcene Bay after the diesel spill.
The state Department of Health temporarily closed commercial and recreational shellfish harvesting off Whidbey Island because of the spill.
The vessel had been anchored illegally in Penn Cove off Whidbey Island on state-owned aquatic lands since December, the state Department of Natural Resources has said.
DNR began billing the owner of the vessel, Rory Westmoreland of Renton, $83.44 a day March 13.
A dive team has been working this weekend to prepare to raise the sunken fishing vessel, Ecology said Friday, adding that work could be completed today.
The boat rests on its left side in 60 feet of water west of Coupeville.
Ecology is coordinating vessel removal operations with DNR, which manages the state-owned aquatic lands where the Deep Sea rests, while the Coast Guard provides oversight on the project.
The cost so far, as computed by Ecology, includes estimated salary costs for personnel with the state department of Ecology, DNR and Health.
It also includes estimated costs for contractors NRC-Environmental Services and Global Diving & Salvage Inc.
The Coast Guard has established a marine safety zone on waters within 200 yards of the Deep Sea.
Vessels seeking to enter that zone must request permission from the Coast Guard’s Joint Harbor Operation Center at 206-217-6001 or from on-scene patrol craft on VHF radio channel 13.
Divers for Ecology’s contractor Global Diving and Salvage Inc. on Friday closed off one of several small oil leaks on the vessel.
The Deep Sea still contains an unknown quantity of oil, small amounts of which continue to surface over the sunken ship.
An oil-spill containment boom rings the area to contain such leaks.
NRC-Environmental Services is tending the boom and using oil-spill cleanup materials to recover sheen, a thin coating of oil on the surface, Ecology said.
Ecology and its contractors monitor the area with periodic helicopter flights over Penn Cove.
As of Friday, monitors had not seen signs of oil along Penn Cove shores or killed or injured fish, mammals or birds.