A Bodega Bay commercial crab fisherman died after he fell overboard off Tomales Point on Friday, and his boat beached in the Point Reyes National Seashore. When the 42-foot Seastar was spotted adrift near Elephant Rock with its engine running, authorities began searching for 30-year-old commercial crab fisherman Ryan Kozlowski. They eventually recovered his body about a mile from the vessel, and his death is being investigated by the Sonoma County coroner. Meanwhile, the Seastar ran aground in the sand at Kehoe Beach, where it sustained damage and spilled fuel before it was removed on Tuesday.
The park announced the closure of both Kehoe Beach and North Beach, which is being used as a staging area for the vessel removal. Working at low tide over the weekend, crews with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response removed diesel fuel from two 350-gallon tanks that were both intact on Saturday. But on Monday, OSPR announced that an “undetermined” amount of fuel leaked from a damaged tank, with no observed impacts to wildlife.
On Tuesday, a salvage crew demolished the boat with chainsaws and an excavator. The hull had already been battered by the surf, and some questioned whether the Seastar could have been saved, and the fuel spill averted, if the response had been faster. “I would like to see the Coast Guard have a public meeting and explain what happened,” said Richard James, an Inverness resident who advocates for state legislation to prevent oil spills.
The wreck of the Seastar was the latest of several fuel spill incidents along the Marin coast in the last year. Last September, a derelict fishing vessel called the Marian sank in Tomales Bay, spilling gallons of diesel before it was hauled to a salvage yard. Last March, a much larger vessel, the 90-foot American Challenger, wrecked north of Dillon Beach after breaking free from its towline. It took nearly 10 months for a review to determine that the removal could be funded by a federal oil spill trust, during which time the Challenger sat derelict on a rocky and inaccessible stretch of shoreline. “There’s three boats now that have all been floating and rescue-able and they’ve all been crunched up,” Mr. James said.
He said Coast Guard officials were worried about the liability involved in proactively towing a working vessel, but that doing so would prevent further damage. “Everyone’s so risk-averse, and yet look what happens,” he said.
Coast Guard spokesman Brandon Giles offered a different explanation. The first boat crew who responded to the incident remained in a search and rescue stance until Mr. Kozlowski’s body was positively identified, Officer Giles said. The Bodega Bay station dispatched a second boat to tow the Seastar, but by the time it arrived, the boat had already run aground. “Coast Guard policy is that we prioritize saving lives before property,” Officer Giles added.
In both other spill incidents, no one was hurt. The Press Democrat reported that according to Bodega Bay fishermen, Mr. Kozlowski was known to fish alone, against his friends’ wishes. Bolinas crabber Don Murch said the job is “ridiculously dangerous,” and there’s always a risk of getting hooked onto or tangled up in a crab pot—a 100-pound mesh trap—as it’s lowered into the ocean. When a lone crabber falls into the water, there’s no one to help. “If you fall over and your boat is in gear, it’s goodbye,” Mr. Murch said. “It doesn’t take very long to die from exposure in this cold ocean.”
A GoFundMe page organized by Bodega Bay fisherman Dick Ogg aims to raise $20,000 in Mr. Kozlowski’s honor to “offset the loss of his vessel and support his family.” Donate at https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-the-spirit-of-ryan-kozlowski?qid=8d99f075c2e86fbbd2dcffd6d6e7cb3f.