Ore Dock project on schedule, port hosts unanticipated wildlife

While Skagway typically welcomes visitors wholeheartedly, a Northern Fur Seal’s visits have complicated the construction of the borough’s ore dock because of its federal status as a protected species.

The Ore Dock Redevelopment Project is expected to be completed on time, around May 4, according to Borough Manager Brad Ryan. Part of his duties have been to deal with a surprise visitor, a Northern Fur Seal, that first appeared Jan. 8.

Ryan said the seal, which is out of its natural range, was not included in the current permit application. That application is in the process of being amended.

“And then lo and behold, a young Northern Fur Seal shows up and really likes to actually swim in between the barges and the project. And so, that got us all pretty excited. We did look at it quite a bit, sent videos off to vets, worked with NOAA, in case there was something wrong with it. And we were offering to send it to the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward for rehab, if it needed it,” Ryan said. “That’s what they did with one that showed up in Sitka. But in the end, they said it was healthy. And we didn’t need to catch it. And we’re not allowed to catch it. So, he’s here and we’ve been managing it. It has come back a couple different times. But it seems to be avoiding the site more and more, which is good, because it is expensive when they show up on the site. Or it can be potentially expensive, for a delay on the construction.”

Ryan said the seal stopped pile work for a total of about two days. He clarified that when a marine mammal forces a shutdown, workers switch from pile driving to other tasks.

“What stops is the pile impacting or vibratory driving of the pile,” Ryan said. “PPM [Pacific Pile and Marine] keeps working on other things. They can weld, they can move material, they can move barges, so they don’t stop working. It’s just that it impacts the pile driving, which is the critical path for the project and the expensive path for the project.”

The project bid has a set number of days built in for weather and marine mammal delay. Once that number is reached, high winds or animals too close to pile driving will cost around $30,000 for a half-day break.

One of the biggest parts of the Ore project is installing two dolphins further south than ever before, to accommodate very large vessels. According to Ryan, all the piles are in for Dolphin Two, and Dolphin One’s templates are now going in, the step before driving piles.

The cruise ship float, which is 500 by 50 feet, left Anacortes. Ryan said he tracks the float on his phone as it travels the Inside Passage. It’s expected to arrive in Skagway Feb. 14.

Brendan Fahey captains a sailboat in the summer. This winter, he’s a protected species observer (PSO), indirectly helping to construct Ore Dock. Before a shift, which roughly lasts from sunrise to sunset, Fahey grabs water, gasoline and a McMabel, then is taken by boat with a colleague to Kasidaya, a remote beach just south of the port. There, a shipping container with a generator and Starlink satellite dish serves as home base.

The PSOs scan the area and give the all-clear before construction can start for the day. The observers record certain species. If they note a target species, this is called a “take.” Fahey described the two kinds of takes.

“But if an animal, and it depends on what type of animal for the type of hammering they’re doing, swims, usually closer to the hammering, then that’s called a Level A Take. Or if it looks like, let’s say you have an orca swimming down the canal, you could do a Level B Take, and we just note it,” Fahey said. “But if it looks like it’s going to swim within, you know, 100 meters of the hammer, then you are essentially blowing the whistle. You’re — we use, you know, different apps, we use WhatsApp to notify our bosses, who then notify the construction guys to say, ‘Hey, stop hammering, it looks like we have a whale or a seal or whatever, it might be getting close.’ And we want to avoid having a level A Take. So, we’ll shut down construction. And that’s happened a few times. And it’s really good. That means the process is working.”

Occasionally, the Kasidaya team will get stuck overnight because water conditions are too rough for their transport boat to return. Luckily, the 20-foot storage unit is stocked with Oreos and Ramen.

During his shifts, Fahey has seen stunning Northern Lights and orca pods closer than he could have dreamed. He watched a sea lion and birds that make Kasidaya their home.

“It’s the only time in my life where I’ve just really had a chance to observe things for long periods of time,” Fahey said. “And just watch it sort of change, which has been pretty special.”