Tuna troller sinks in Ilwaco mooring basin
Published 12:08 pm Monday, November 20, 2017
- A life ring was recovered from the Lihue II.
ILWACO — Authorities on Monday continued dealing with pollution concerns and making plans to raise the Lihue II, a 61-foot wooden fishing vessel that sank at her mooring at the Port of Ilwaco sometime Friday night or Saturday morning.
A citizen reported the sinking to Long Beach Police at 10:14 a.m. Saturday. “Reporting party stated there was a boat that sunk; reporting party does not know if it was sabotage or what,” according to the Pacific County Dispatch media report.
Washington Department of Ecology personnel responded to the scene to investigate what appeared to be a minor leak of oil into the waters of the Ilwaco mooring basin. Containment booms were placed around the boat.
The 1939 vessel was built by Hawaiian Tuna Parkers Ltd., which became a division of Bumble Bee Seafoods. It is currently owned by Arnold Services Inc. of Astoria, according to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission’s on-line database. The Lihue II has a 14-ton carrying capacity and is rigged with multi-purpose gear, the commission’s website states.
A fisherman who once fished off the Lihue II, Joe Murphy, commented online, “We fished for albacore tuna, black cod (sable fish), Dungeness crab, slime eels (hagfish), etc. The boat was owned by Richard (Dick) Arnold. The boat came from Hawaii and was a tug boat. Dick mostly fished out of Astoria. Dick put a new wheel house on it…. He also enclosed the bow with steel; the boat is a wood boat. He added lots of other systems to the boat like [a] fiberglass fish hold with a blast freezer, long-line reel, trolling poles and gurdies, crab block for hauling crab pots, new electronics like navigation and communication equipment. Dick was a good friend on mine, he passed away a few years back. His son, Stuart owns the boat now and I think he mostly fishes for tuna.”
Paul Haist, who photographed the vessel at the municipal mooring basin in Warrenton in 2013, said that at the time the vessel was rigged with trolling booms for tuna or offshore salmon.
This is a developing story, with more details to come.
