Spacecraft created a rare sight when Washington cleared an abandoned ship on Helicopter Island
Olympia, Wash. (AP) – As the owner of the dock, Kate Gervais is used to seeing boats in the water. But for the past few days, she has been seeing them in the air.
The Washington Department of Natural Resources this week used one of its fire helicopters to tow abandoned ships out of an uninhabited island in the southernmost tip of Puget Sound, where the ships rested after drifting with electricity, then flew to the mainland, before ruling later.
Officials said the removal of 14 ships was the largest of its kind in the agency’s operations.
“It’s a very, very strange sight,” said Gwais, who owns Boston Harbor Pier north of Olympia. “A sailboat with a mast is the strangest ship.”
The helicopters are usually removed by private pilots, but for the operation funded by a federal grant, DNR chose to use one of its fire helicopters. Dave Upthegrove’s public land specialist said it was cheaper and helped expand the $1 million NOAA grant.
The state agency’s choice of spaceship ships when tow them will damage the ocean bed or surroundings. The water land of the boat usually includes kelp beds, which is essential to support the feed on which salmon depend.
Agency staff said the operation’s ships were in hard-to-reach bays, tree lines or ships found in dirt, making air freight a better option.
Since the ship program began in 2002, the department has towed out 1,200 abandoned ships. Upthegrove said there are at least 300 more there, and more were found at all times.
“When people essentially pour old ships into the water, it’s a real challenge because they don’t want to deal with them,” he said. “That burden then fell on us all.”
Federal grants allow the state to clean up ships from the crowd island, an uninhabited island that is particularly important for Indigenous Island tribes. According to the tribe’s website, the people of the tribe used to share vast lands in western Washington, but according to the tribe’s website, the island island (4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) long and 4.5 miles (800 meters) wide) is the main area they reserved.
Eventually, members of the tribe moved out of the island, but they continued to use it for fishing, hunting, shellfish gatherings and camping.
“This island tribe is very enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with the DNR to clean up abandoned ships on the tribe’s land,” said Daniel Kuntz, policy and planning manager for the tribe. “Sustaining clean beaches and water is crucial to the ocean island culture to ensure gathering for future generations.”
