F/V ARCTIC SEA Grounding; St. George Island, Alaska

Saint George Island, AK, USA | 2026-Jan-05

Initial Notification: At approximately 4am on January 5, 2026, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Arctic District Command Center in Juneau received a report that the fishing vessel Arctic Sea was taking on water and aground along the northern shoreline of St. George Island (Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea) with nine people aboard. The Coast Guard launched a helicopter, aircraft, and USCG Cutter Alex Haley and were able to rescue all nine without incident. At the time of the rescue, the vessel had nine inches of water in the galley from an unknown ingress. An oil spill response organization has been contracted to oversee salvage operations of the grounded vessel, which had 50K gallons of diesel on board. Due to severe weather conditions, typical of the Bering Sea and Pribilof Islands, the fuel could not be removed from the vessel in January. By the time weather conditions improved in June, the vessel had sustained significant hull damage and all fuel had been discharged. The vessel owner is working on a salvage plan to remove the vessel from the shoreline. The USCG requested NOAA assistance with a spot weather forecast, fuel fate and trajectory, and resources at risk.