Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A. District Attorney John Savrnoch has announced a settlement with Ocean Angel VI, a commercial fishing company specializing in squid whose vessel ran aground in 2022, spilling roughly 1,300 gallons of diesel fuel and byproducts into the ocean.
The company’s squid fishing vessel, Speranza Marie, ran aground at Chinese Harbor in the Channel Islands National Park and Marine Sanctuary off of Santa Cruz Island back in December 2022. According to the district attorney’s office, oil from the spill could be see for a mile around the incident and several hundred birds were covered in oil. It took over a month for the vessel to be recovered.
In the aftermath, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) launched an investigation, which concluded that the captain had fallen asleep while operating the vessel after sleeping only three hours over a two-day period.
“This case is yet another reminder of what can happen when individuals operate motorized vehicles – both on land and at sea – without proper sleep,” Savrnoch said. “We are grateful that no persons were injured as a result of this incident, but the environmental harm was substantial and could have easily been avoided. Hopefully this incident serves as a reminder to those who operate commercial fishing vessels of how important it is to implement appropriate sleep and rest policies.”
On 26 October, the district attorney’s office announced a settlement with Ocean Angel VI to resolve violations of state codes related to the spill. Under the deal, Ocean Angel VI will pay USD 100,000 (EUR 89,554), including USD 20,000 (EUR 17,911) for environmental projects, USD 15,000 (EUR 13,433) to the California Hazardous Materials Investigators Association for hazard spill response training, and USD 5,000 (EUR 4,478) to the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute to rehabilitate injured marine wildlife.
