Bing k said:
Why doesn't someone just tow it in and salvage her for scrap? The price is up. I wonder how much fuel in still on her that will end up in the water?
There was some last minute attempt to do that.
nydailynews.com reported: "As the Coast Guard was readying to fire on the vessel, a Canadian fishing vessel, the 62-foot Bernice C, claimed salvage rights over the ghost ship in international waters. Plans to sink it were halted so the Canadian crew could have a chance to take the stricken ship. A Canadian official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that the Bernice C was unable to tow it. That delay, in part, prompted the C-130 cargo plane to return to Kodiak, Alaska, before the ship sank because the plane burned up fuel while circling the area monitoring the situation. The Canadian boat Bernice C left, and once it was about 6 miles from the Japanese vessel, the Coast Guard began to fire, first with 25 mm shells, then a few hours later with ammunition twice that size."
And regarding the fuel problem: "The ship had no lights or communications system, and its tank was able to carry more than 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Officials, however, didn't know how much fuel, if any, was aboard. "It's less risky than it would be running into shore or running into (maritime) traffic," Coast Guard spokesman Paul Webb said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency studied the problem and decided it is safer to sink the ship and let the fuel evaporate in the open water."
Ralf
Frono doesn't miss much. 
