The council is collaborating with the Prince William Sound College and the Smithsonian for a two-day Marine Invasive Species Bioblitz on September 9 and 10 in Valdez. Learn about invasive species that threaten Prince William Sound and look for them in Valdez Harbor.
Your help with this bioblitz will help establish critical baseline data for future research, invasive species management, and conservation initiatives.
Dates:
Pre-training workshop on Friday, September 9.
Expedition to look for invasive species in Valdez harbor.
Mariners may see drift buoys labelled “PWSSC” around Port Valdez over the next few weeks. They are part of a study to measure flow patterns at various depths within the Port.
The dates the drifter buoys will be in the water are:
Release on September 21
Retrieval on September 30
Please do not pick up the buoys! They are being monitored via GPS and need to be allowed to drift where the current takes them. Buoys that run aground, appear to be in the path of tanker traffic, or that drift inside the exclusion zone around the terminal will be retrieved and re-released.
The buoys will have drogues attached that trail beneath them in the water, to depths of anywhere from one meter to 40 meters. Please be cautious when navigating around these drifter buoys.
The tug Tanerliq tethered to the tanker Overseas Washington in 2002. Photo by Stan Jones.
Update: This article ran in the May issue of our newsletter, The Observer, stay tuned for updates in the next issue!
Crowley Marine Services, the contractor who provides oil spill prevention and response services to Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, will no longer provide those services after June 30, 2018.
Crowley has held this contract with Alyeska since the company created its Ship Escort/Response Vessel System, also known as SERVS, after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Crowley also provided tanker docking services since 1977, and helped dock the first tanker at the Valdez terminal.
Crowley owns the powerful tugboats that escort loaded oil tankers through Prince William Sound. The tugs also scout for ice drifting from nearby Columbia Glacier, and are equipped to start cleaning up a spill or tow a disabled tanker if needed. In addition to the escort tugs, Crowley owns response tugs that help the tankers dock and other support vessels and barges stationed in Prince William Sound which contain Alyeska’s boom, skimmers, and other equipment for a quick response to an oil spill.
Crowley employs 230 mariners and 17 administrative personnel in the area.
Lisa Matlock, center, poses with the Seward High School students and teachers in the bow of the Glacier Explorer. Scroll down for more photos.
I was a Homer resident for five years. Each spring I watched a fleet of fishing boats carrying noisy, funny-looking machines and pulling long orange and yellow lines around in circles near the Spit. I can remember asking, “What are they doing out there?” The answer was always, “Oh, that’s just SERVS training.” I never learned more than that until my first year with the council when I had the opportunity to observe that training personally.
For two days, I participated in classroom training with a group of fishermen and other mariners about spill safety, oil spill tactics, wildlife protection, and Geographic Response Strategies for sensitive areas. I learned about different types of hydraulic power packs, skimmers, and oil containment boom.
The council is collaborating with the Prince William Sound College and the Smithsonian for a two-day Marine Invasive Species Bioblitz on September 9 and 10 in Valdez. Learn about invasive species that threaten Prince William Sound and look for them in Valdez Harbor.
