Case History: Jin Shiang Fa

In October 1993 the Taiwanese fishing vessel Jin Shiang Fa, ran hard aground on the western reef of Rose Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in American Samoa. Prior to the incident, the atoll was considered to be one of the least disturbed coral atolls in the world. The 37 meter-long vessel collided with the upper portion of the outer reef slope and skipped across the tops of two large spurs before coming to rest on the tops of two others. The vessel broke up before a salvage tug could reach the atoll, resulting in the release of over 100,000 gallons of diesel and lube oil across the reef. In addition to the physical crushing of corals, the damage assessment teams documented injuries due to the oil release including a massive die-off of crustose coralline algae, giant clams, boring sea urchins and other invertebrates in the vicinity of the spill site. Areas along the reef flat, reef slope, and lagoon where the coralline algae were killed were quickly colonized by opportunistic invasive algal and cyanobacteria species.

When salvage operations began in late November, the stern of the vessel was nearly submerged on the shallow reef slope with only a small amount of rigging above water. The bow section, wheelhouse and miscellaneous pieces of the ship were scattered over the reef flat, covering an area of approximately 9,000 square meters. Ship debris was also spread over an estimated 175,000 square meters of reef flat and lagoon terrace. Salvage operations removed most of the larger pieces of wreckage and debris from the reef flat. These operations included pulling the bow, wheelhouse, shelter deck, and miscellaneous pieces of ship wreckage off the reef flat into deeper water immediately adjacent to the atoll. The stern was too large to move and was left on the shallow reef slope. In the months following the salvage operation, high wave energy broke the stern into smaller pieces. The salvage effort ceased when the vessel's insurance ceiling was reached. The insurance company claims to have paid in excess of 1.1 million dollars for the salvage operation.

The USFWS continued to monitor conditions at Rose Atoll and data collected in the years since the grounding indicate that conditions on the reef were deteriorating. The opportunistic invasive species continue to dominate in the spill zone and have spread to other areas of the atoll, overgrowing and killing otherwise healthy portions of the reef. The field data indicate that the bloom of these invasive species may be due to elevated iron levels in the water coming from the corroding vessel debris. These data also suggest that the reef area injured by the oil spill will not return to baseline conditions until the remaining vessel debris is removed. In the long run, the loss of reef building corals could change the water circulation patterns across the reef and might result in permanent changes to the reef structure. If this occurs, it is likely that the protective barrier effect of the reef would be compromised resulting in a loss of Rose Island on the atoll, the most important seabird and sea turtle breeding area for over 700 miles. This determination lead the USFWS to conduct further debris removal, and emergency restoration actions. During 1999 and 2000 these efforts succeeded in the removal of over 100 tons of the metallic debris and fishing gear from the reef. Another 50 tons of vessel metal debris remains on the reef. The USFWS is currently seeking funding from the OSLTF for an uncompensated claim to remove the remaining vessel debris and monitor the long-term recovery of this atoll reef ecosystem.

The Rose Atoll incident illustrates that grounded vessels can result in chronic injuries to coral reef communities. Significant and potentially permanent impacts from the grounding and fuel release are still evident over 8 years after the incident and costs continue to be incurred for monitoring and removal.