photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
The' Aleutian Storm' grounded on a beach near Bodega Bay.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday turned operations over to the Greater Farrallones National Marine Sanctuary for the commercial fishing vessel that ran aground near Bodega Bay on Feb. 9.

The Coast Guard had been trying to right The Aleutian Storm, a 58-foot commercial fishing vessel, since it went aground 2 miles southwest of Bodega Bay in Sonoma Coast State Park, but now says it will be a salvage operation led by the marine sanctuary, which is overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Coast Guard attempted to remove all diesel from the vessel, but now says such operations are unsafe due to the weather and the degraded condition of the boat.

Efforts to refloat the boat and relocate it further up the beach were unsuccessful before the rain arrived this weekend, the Coast Guard said. Before that, crews had been able to remove diesel from one storage tank on board, but they do not know how much remains.

The Coast Guard said that an unknown amount of diesel fuel leaked from the boat on Feb. 12 as authorities tried to move it. The boat has a capacity of 3,400 gallons of diesel fuel and had about 1,500 gallons on board, the Coast Guard said.

The exact cause of the ship's grounding and the amount of diesel that has leaked is still being investigated, the Coast Guard said.

INITIAL STORY AIRED 2/13/24 ON KRCB

Today a crew from the Coast Guard and various other state and county agencies are removing diesel fuel from a grounded commercial fishing boat floundering around in the surf near Bodega Bay. KRCB’s Greta Mart has more…

The boat is a 58 foot steel hold commercial fishing boat named the Aleutian Storm. It's captained and four-person crew were reportedly heading into Bodega Bay to fuel up before making their way back to their San Francisco slip. That's when the boat ran aground about two miles from the harbor.

Lieutenant Christopher Payne is a public affairs officer with the US Coast Guard's San Francisco sector.

"We received a call on Channel 16 from the captain that the Aleutian Storm had run a ground and needed assistance on grounding," Payne said. "The captain reported that all crew members were safe on board and they were able to make it to shore."

That was Friday night. Several attempts over the weekend pull the stuck boat off the beach failed. So the Coast Guard turned its attention to preventing a diesel spill in a protected marine sanctuary.

"At this point, our main priority is to remove the fuel that's remaining on board," Payne said. "Our operations involve removing as much product today as possible via portable vacuum totes, which are capable of carrying approximately 250 gallons per tote."

The Coast Guard said the fuel capacity of the vessel is 3,400 gallons and about 1500 gallons was still on board. Once the spill danger has been removed, Lt. Payne said crews will keep trying a variety of methods to get the boat back into deeper waters. Payne said the Coast Guard's priority is the safety of its crew.

"....and the surrounding community being number one, followed by protection of the environment and environmentally sensitive areas, and also to preserve the integrity of the vessel and property." Payne said.