Fisherman ordered to pay $646,259 for oil spill off San Juan Island

Washington state officials are ordering a salmon fisherman to pay $646,259 in damages and penalties for spilling diesel fuel into Haro Strait as his commercial fishing boat sank off San Juan Island.

The boat, a purse seiner called the Aleutian Isle, sank while participating in a sockeye salmon fishery in August 2022. Its five-member crew escaped onto a small skiff before the Aleutian Isle rolled on its side and disappeared beneath the waves, about 15 minutes after its captain noticed water covering its main deck.

The Washington Department of Ecology estimates the sinking boat spilled about 1,400 gallons of diesel into critical habitat for the region’s endangered orcas.

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The Aleutian Isle spent more than a month on the sea floor, with the powerful currents of Haro Strait moving it to deeper water over time, before salvage crews lifted it from the water. They recovered 590 gallons of diesel from its tanks.

The department has given Aleutian Isle captain and owner Matt Johnston of Mount Vernon, Washington, 30 days to pay several fees:

• $444,473 — state cleanup costs
• $183,786 — natural resource damages
• $18,000 — oil-spill penalty

Ecology spokesperson Scarlet Tang said that while the sunken boat leaked diesel for at least nine days, the penalty only reflected the diesel spilled for the first three days on the sea floor.

On its third day underwater, tidal currents shoved it to a new location, an additional 100 feet deeper.

“Since that was due to natural circumstances beyond Johnston’s control, Ecology’s penalty is based on oil being released on three days,” Tang said in an email.

Johnston has not responded to requests for comment.

Ecology officials say Johnston actively helped with the cleanup and fully cooperated with investigators.

The full cost of the cleanup and salvage operations has not been disclosed, though the U.S. Coast Guard has paid most of it.

Those responsible for oil spills are liable for damages the spills cause as well as the costs of cleaning them up, though getting them to pay can take years.

“When it comes to finding out the responsible party and then working with their insurance agency, that’s a longer litigation process. We don’t want to wait for that,” U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier said.

“That’s why that oil spill trust fund is built up so we can use that money,” he said. “Then the litigation aspect can be figured out later.”

The Coast Guard’s Oil Spill Pollution Liability Trust Fund, paid for by a 0.2 cents per gallon tax on oil, had budgeted $6.5 million for the Aleutian Isle’s cleanup and deep-water salvage operation.

Strohmaier said the Coast Guard’s investigation of the August 2022 sinking was ongoing. Ecology department investigators said they could not determine the cause of the spill.

An eyewitness told KUOW he had seen the Aleutian Isle run aground as it was leaving a marina on a low tide the day before it sank.

Diesel fuel is toxic to breathe or ingest, though diesel spills are generally considered less disastrous than spills of heavier petroleum products, which persist for years rather than evaporating.

One oceanographer told KUOW it was “incredibly lucky” that the region’s endangered orcas, which lack a sense of smell, did not swim through the diesel-spill area. At least 60 of the endangered orcas — most of their population — had been seen swimming just five miles away the night of the spill.