Critical Human Dimensions of Maritime Oil Spills As Identified Through Examination of the Selendang Ayu Incident
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OCS Study BOEM 053-2011 Critical Human Dimensions of Maritime Oil Spills As Identified through Examination of the Selendang Ayu Incident Photo Courtesy of the United States Coast Guard Prepared for the U. S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Alaska OCS Region Contract No. M03PC00008 by IMPACT ASSESSMENT, INC. 2166 Avenida de la Playa, Suite F La Jolla, California 92037 [email protected] October 2011 OCS Study BOEM 053-2011 Critical Human Dimensions of Maritime Oil Spills As Identified through Examination of the Selendang Ayu Incident - Final Report - John S. Petterson, Ph.D., President Edward W. Glazier, Ph.D., Vice-President, Principal Investigator Impact Assessment, Inc. 2166 Avenida de la Playa, Suite F La Jolla, California 92037 This study was funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Region, Anchorage Alaska, under Contract No. M03PC00008, as part of the BOEM Environmental Studies Program. Final Report, October 2011. This report has been reviewed by the BOEM and approved for publication. Approval does not signify that the contents necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Service, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. Project Organization Edward Glazier Principal Investigator and Author Julia Stevens Human Geographer and Artist Rusty Scalf Geographic Information System Specialist BOEM Technical Oversight Chris Campbell Sociocultural Specialist Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Alaska OCS Region ii Acknowledgements The author wishes to acknowledge and thank the many persons who contributed to this project by discussing or otherwise facilitating research of the Selendang Ayu incident and its implications for maritime transportation policy in the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea. These include: numerous federal, state, and local government officials; members of the local small-boat crab fleet; representatives of the commercial fishing sectors in Dutch Harbor; representatives of the Qawalangin tribe of Alaska Natives; representatives of Ounalashka Corporation; local business owners in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor; numerous residents of Unalaska; various participants in the spill response and vessel salvage effort; and scientific consultants involved in spill-related assessment work. Dr. Courtney Carothers of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks contributed to the ethnographic field effort. Special thanks to the United States Coast Guard and its Alaska-based personnel who so graciously contributed to this important project. iii Table of Contents List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... vi Summary Overview .................................................................................................................................. vii 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 Overview ................................................................................................................................................ 1 Purpose of the Research ......................................................................................................................... 2 Administrative and Policy Background .................................................................................................. 2 Study Background .................................................................................................................................. 3 Project Rationale .................................................................................................................................... 5 Research Methods .................................................................................................................................. 6 Study Area Primer .................................................................................................................................. 7 Location and Overview .................................................................................................................... 7 Brief History .................................................................................................................................... 7 Current Conditions and Trends ........................................................................................................ 8 Organization of the Report ................................................................................................................... 11 2.0 The Selendang Ayu Accident, Spill, and Associated Response Efforts ........................................... 12 Loss of Power and Subsequent Repair and Rescue Attempts .............................................................. 13 The Determinative Nature of Alaska Weather and Sea Conditions ..................................................... 17 Spill Assessment and Response Work ................................................................................................. 20 3.0 Effects on Commercial Fisheries and Subsistence Activities .......................................................... 27 Commercial Fishery Effects and Seafood Monitoring Strategies ........................................................ 28 Overview ........................................................................................................................................ 28 Effects on the Dutch Harbor Small-Boat Crab Fleet ..................................................................... 29 Positive Contamination Sampling Results in a Highly Sensitive Zone ......................................... 32 Effects on Non-Commercial Natural Resource Harvesting in the Spill-Affected Area ....................... 36 Background – Past and Present ...................................................................................................... 36 Recent Subsistence Trends ............................................................................................................ 40 Use of the Spill-Affected Area for Subsistence and Related Cultural Purposes ............................ 44 Species of Local Importance .......................................................................................................... 45 Subsistence Foods and Contamination Concerns .......................................................................... 47 4.0 Social Change and Response-Related Costs ..................................................................................... 51 An Urgent Rescue and Loss of Human Life......................................................................................... 52 Cultural Interface between Responding Agencies and the Host Community ...................................... 53 Near-Term Sociodemographic Effects ................................................................................................. 54 Allocation of Government Resources to the Response ........................................................................ 56 5.0 Resolution ............................................................................................................................................ 59 Adjudication ......................................................................................................................................... 59 NPFC Rejection of the Tribal Claim .................................................................................................... 60 Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) ................................................................................. 63 Attendant Outcomes ............................................................................................................................. 66 iv 6.0 Summary Findings and Conclusions ................................................................................................. 68 The Critical Challenges of Weather and Sea ........................................................................................ 69 Commercial Fisheries Dimensions ....................................................................................................... 69 Subsistence Dimensions ....................................................................................................................... 71 Social, Sociodemographic, and Economic Dimensions ....................................................................... 72 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................... 73 Cited References ........................................................................................................................................ 75 List of Tables Table 1. Unalaska Population by Decade ..................................................................................................... 8 Table 2. Recent Population Trends, Unalaska .............................................................................................. 8 Table 3. Select Demographic Conditions in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor 1990-2010 ........................................ 9 Table 4. Unalaska Subsistence Salmon Harvest Data: 1994 and 2002 ....................................................... 41 Table 5.