Digital Extra

The daily report from the pages of the Journal-Bulletin

F e b r u a r y  1 9 9 6  S t o r i e s

2/28: Flounder survive spill, gain from fishing ban
NARRAGANSETT -- Marine biologists studying the effects of January's oil spill on winter flounder apparently have good news: In preliminary observations, the fish appear to be healthy.

2/24: Block Island fishing areas remain shut
The expected reopening of portions of Block Island Sound to fishing this week has been delayed by another round of sampling that found lobsters still smelling of oil a month after the North Cape spill.

2/20, ONE MONTH LATER: Fleet's cod fishing down 80% since oil spill
NARRAGANSETT -- A faint blush marked the horizon as the charter boat Lady Frances slipped out of Galilee yesterday: past the swaying outriggers of a fishing fleet idled by the Jan. 19 oil spill, past a quiet processing plant usually working double shifts this time of year, now half its workers laid off.

2/16: Tainted lobsters given clean bill of health
NARRAGANSETT -- Some 8,620 pounds of lobsters, which, strangely, have the North Cape spill to thank for their stays of execution, were returned to the sea yesterday so one day they or their offspring may become Newburg.

2/15: Committee grills Coast Guard over delay in new safety rules
NARRAGANSETT -- Since the North Cape oil spill, politicians and agencies responding to the disaster have heaped great praise on one another for jobs well done. Yesterday there came some grilling, too.

2/13: Beached Scandia set free at last
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- After hunkering on the Rhode Island shoreline for 25 days, the tug Scandia was pulled tail-first, like a stricken whale, from Moonstone Beach yesterday.

2/12: Storm halts tug salvage work, again
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- Efforts to remove the grounded tug Scandia were delayed again Sunday because of poor weather conditions.

2/11: Attempt to remove grounded tug fails
Salvors will try again today to pull the grounded tug Scandia from Moonstone Beach after spending yesterday trying to upright the vessel.

2/10: Salvagers hope cable sling lifts tug free Saturday
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- Salvagers armed with a new plan of attack will try again Saturday morning to uproot the tug Scandia from Moonstone Beach.

2/9: Was 'rescue' worth it?
NARRAGANSETT -- Immediately after the oil barge North Cape washed ashore three weeks ago, 102 oil-contaminated birds, mostly loons and eiders, were treated in a sophisticated rescue facility in the Narragansett town garage . . . As of Wednesday, 6 birds had been released back to the wild and 15 others were still being treated. Eighty-one died. Was it worth it?

2/8: Attempt to lift Scandia fails as rescue crane's cables snap
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- The tug Scandia remained imbedded on Moonstone Beach yesterday as efforts to extract it failed with the dramatic snap of heavy-duty cables and the accidental slicing of a gash in the stranded tug's stern.

2/7: Rough seas keep tug grounded
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- Well, it's still here.

2/6: Crane arrives to lift tugboat off Moonstone
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- The barge Chesapeake, outfitted with a 240-foot crane capable of lifting 1,000 tons, arrived in Rhode Island waters yesterday in anticipation of hauling the grounded tug Scandia off Moonstone Beach today.

2/4: Vessel fishes for clues to Sound's health
ABOARD THE ALBATROSS ON BLOCK ISLAND SOUND -- Under a haze of churning spume and falling snow, the crew of the Albatross followed the time-honored routine last week of hauling in its net.

2/3: Senate commission opens hearings on preventing spills
PROVIDENCE -- In its first day of hearings into the North Cape disaster, a Senate commission hoping to prevent future oil spills garnered what it termed valuable suggestions yesterday from a man who's been there before.

2/2: Trustom Pond: Close call?
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- Environmental scientist Scott Lundgren shoveled out a spade of sand from the edge of Trustom Pond yesterday and offered it up to a small circle of ready noses.

2/1: Wildlife deaths horrify U.S. scientists
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- As a bulldozer broke through the dune and the brackish water of Card Ponds flushed out to sea, a bed of carnage lay revealed.