Tubbataha task force sets 2nd week of April as new timeline for completion of salvage operation

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 22): Tubbataha task force sets 2nd week of April as new timeline for completion of salvage operation

The Task Force Tubbataha (TFT), which leads and manages the ongoing recovery operation of the grounded USS Guardian minesweeper on the South Atoll of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP), has set the second week of April as new timeline for the completion of salvaging activities in the area.

Ens. Greanata Jude, spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Palawan District, told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) Friday that the task force will not be able to meet the March timeline that it has first set to complete the salvage operation due to problems in weather condition in the area in the past.

“If all goes well, by the second week of April, the task force would be able to complete the salvage operation, and then conduct the post-assessment on the damages to the corals in Tubbataha,” Jude told the Philippines News Agency.

Currently, crewmen of Jascon 25 and other salvor vessels by the Philippines and the U.S. governments in the Tubbataha are clearing out remaining pipes, vents, and other wreckages on the remaining hull of the minesweeper to be able to incise it into four sections for lifting.

Cut markers, she explained, will be placed Monday on the bow, the auxiliary machinery room, main machinery room, and the stern to serve as guide of Jascon 25 and the other salvors when they finally commence “structurally cutting” the mine sweeper.

“After the hull, which is the only remaining part of the USS Guardian in the area, has been lifted, the crewmen will begin taking off debris from the area where it got stuck stranded to ensure not a single wreckage is left behind,” Jude explained.

Holes have also been bored on different parts of the hull to be used as channels for cable wires when lifting becomes possible.

She added that as soon as the operation is completed, a major meeting involving all stakeholders will be called by the task force to explain all past activities, and to proceed in the discussion of how the post-assessment will be conducted.

From the Philippine government side, the post-assessment team will be composed of experts from the Tubbataha Protected Areas Management Board (TPAMB), Tubbataha Management Office (TMO), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD), the PCG, and others, whose expertise are required.

Meanwhile, Jude said diving tourism activities in Tubbataha still continue despite the presence of the salvage operation following the imposition of a 500-meter exclusion zone (EZ).

The imposition of the EZ, she furthered, was an agreement made with the TMO to avoid any tourists from being affected by the salvage operation.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=509731