Tubbataha management commends ‘safe’ salvage operation of USS Guardian

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 1): Tubbataha management commends ‘safe’ salvage operation of USS Guardian

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY -– The Tubbataha Management Office Monday commended the “safe and careful” salvage operation carried out by the salvors and their crewmen in the area.

This followed more than two months after the Task Force Tubbataha succeeded in lifting the last piece of the USS Guardian off the South Atoll of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park.

In an interview with the Philippines News Agency, TMO head Angelique Songco said the TFT, the salvors and all the crewmen involved in the retrieval and recovery of the decommissioned U.S. Navy minesweeper “did a fantastic job in making sure no major destruction will be incurred on the fragile reefs.”

“In the beginning, we were scared because we all thought the method they employed to salvage the navy ship will lay more damages on the reefs. Surprisingly, there’s none recorded so far,” Songco said, pending the scheduled April 8 commencement of the post-assessment on the coral island where the minesweeper got stuck stranded last January.

Philippine Coast Goard-Palawan District Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista, also head in the province of the TFT and who has been on top of the salvage operation since Day 1, agrees with the TMO’s observation.

“This was very successful. This was done very carefully and very safely because not only the country is observing, the whole world is monitoring, especially non-government organizations for the environment and the media,” Evangelista added.

Except for a minor injury sustained by one of the crewmen of Jascon 25, the PCG-Palawan District commander noted the “very sincere effort” shown by the U.S. Navy in salvaging the mothballed USS Guardian.

The post-assessment of the coral island in the Tubbataha will take 10 days to finish, according to Songco, depending on the weather condition.

It will be conducted with the participation of marine biologists and scientists from the University of the Philippines-Marine Sciences Institute, U.P. National Institute of Physics, College of Science, Western Philippine University, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, TMO, Department of Science and Technology, Mapua Institute of Technology, Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff, PCG-Palawan District, Naval Forces West-Philippine Navy, and other concerned agencies.

Songco said various agencies have volunteered to pitch in to cover the cost of the post-assessment, which will spend P200,000 on fuel alone.

“The DOST will shoulder most of the fuel expenses,” she said, belatedly adding the U.S. Navy has not offered any amount so far to help bear the cost of the post-assessment phase.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy, 7th Fleet, announced on its website that the crewmen of the ex-Guardian had been transferred to USS Warrior in Sasebo, Japan, where they will “remain forward deployed on CFAS effective Sunday, March 31.

The transfer came after the minesweeper was stricken off the naval registry on February 15 as it was already “beyond economical repair.”

Lt. Jg. Jared Shrader, Warrior’s Damage Control Assistant, was quoted in the website saying “it has been difficult for the crew, both officers and enlisted, not having a ship,” and that sometimes the crewmen experience confusion. But with Warrior as their new ship, they now have a clear purpose.

On March 30, at around 2 p.m., Jascon 25 and the other salvors deployed in Tubbataha in the Sulu Sea completed the retrieval of the 250-ton stern section off the atoll to a waiting tow vessel that will bring it to its final destination in Japan.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=511956