Spills Kill
Shipwreck of F/V Eileen Rita
On Friday, April 11th 2025, Boston had a front row seat to the irreversible and devastating damage of a marine catastrophe. In the early hours just after sunrise Fishing Vessel Eileen Rita (of New England Marine Inc.), a scalloper out of New Bedford ran around on Green Island and sank in Hypocrite Channel, just outside of the Boston inner harbor. Allegedly the captain (unofficial sources report the entire crew) had been asleep while approaching the Boston Harbor Islands and the vessel struck the 17 acre rocky outcropping north of Calf Island.
A mayday was immediately sent out as the crew donned their survival gear in preparation for an imminent plunge into the 49ºF water. Boston Police’s small response boats showed up on scene first followed by USCG Sector Boston to rescue the 3 seamen on board. The crew was safe although certainly shaken and stirred but they were not the real victims, neither are the corporate companies that lost a ship and whose only concern is profits and exploitation of the ocean. The real victims of this incident are the marine life all throughout the Boston Harbor that were guilty of nothing more than existing in their home.
F/V Eileen Rita is reportedly said to have immediately started to spill toxic fluids into the marine environment after its capsize, releasing 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 50 gallons of oil as well as an unknown amount of miscellaneous lubricants and chemicals onboard. Gear oil and hydraulic fluid, as well as cleaning chemicals, spare fluids, engine treatments etc. are not accounted for yet are also all sent into the ocean. This devastating outcome is like a nuclear bomb for the marine life in the surrounding areas in the sense that it not only causes immediate death and suffering but the horror continues in the aftermath as these pollutants do not fully dissipate in a week, a month or a year. The effects on the ecosystem, habitats and even genetically in everything from invertebrates to marine mammals to marine flora is detrimental especially in today’s fragile and struggling environment.
Within two and a half weeks the Boston Harbor was inundated with dead fish floating from the North End out to the harbor islands. Herring and Pogy’s (menhaden) were spotted in dead, floating shoals by ferry boats, water taxi’s, recreational boats and even people on shore. A closer look reveals oil stains on some of what all seems to be what were previously healthy individuals. As bad as this is, it’s only what we can see, the more severe damage is below the surface, or already washed out to sea where the evidence disappears but the harmful consequences continue. Green Island is in between numerous dive sites where scuba divers with Boston Scuba go to train for their SCUBA certifications and certified divers escape the concrete city living to play with seals and explore the beauty of the underwater world. Additionally the area is a popular spot for recreational and commercial lobstermen on a small scale feeding families and making ends meet, Everything that lives and breathes in these waters (including the people who eat the seafood or dive/swim/play in the water) are negatively effected and disturbed.
So when we talk about overfishing and the fishing industry being destructive and responsible for murdering our oceans, this is just one small example of how. These tragedies happen daily around the planet and this is a very mild example on a very controlled scale compared to what else occurs and cannot be avoided. Personally as a fisherman, spearfisherman, and underwater hunter I do not believe we should eliminate fish or meat from our diets, however, sustainable and ethical should be our utmost concern and priority instead of exploitation and profits. Give the people and small businesses, companies and fisherman the ability to fish, feed their families and support their communities and get these massive, trolling, elitist financed, corporate death machines out of the sea and off the fucking planet.
-Captain Gregory Lewandowski
