With up to 200 adult Hawaiian monk seals and 30 to 40 of their pups living in the area, removal of fuel and oil from the grounded ship Casitas at Pearl and Hermes Atoll in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands will be a delicate operation.

Fuel removal could begin as early as this morning, said Coast Guard Capt. Manson Brown, federal on-scene coordinator for the Unified Command that has been assessing Casitas' condition and planning for the ship's removal.

"We have a forecast for good weather for the next few days," he said. "We hope to take advantage of that window."

Skip Naftel of Ocean Surveys and Management Co., a Lloyd's agent in Honolulu and the company representing the Casitas' owners, said officials have been examining Casitas' fuel lines and position on the reef and making plans to move the Coast Guard Cutter Walnut next to it.

Once the ship's fuel and oil have been safely removed to Walnut's holding tanks — authorities estimate Casitas carries a total of 32,000 gallons — officials can begin removing the vessel from the reef. Ideally, Brown said, the ship will be off the coral within 30 to 45 days.

An investigation to determine what caused the vessel to run aground could take three to four months, he said.

The Casitas, a 145-foot motor vessel owned by Richard and Peter Kelly of Fishing Vessel Northwind Inc., was contracted by NOAA for marine debris removal and ran hard aground on Pearl and Hermes around 12:15 a.m. Saturday, NOAA officials said.

The 23 people aboard, including crew, divers and scientists, escaped unharmed.

A Coast Guard C-130 airplane crew at first reported a 500-yard rainbow-colored sheen surrounding the ship, but Casitas deployed a pollution absorbing boom and officials said yesterday that no further evidence of a fuel spill has been seen.

The ship is expected to leave a scar where it struck the reef, said John Naughton of NOAA Fisheries, but silt visible in the water on the first day of the wreck has settled, leading experts to believe the ship has stabilized and is not doing further damage.

Extreme care will be necessary in removing the fuel because Pearl and Hermes, part of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, is home to monk seals, hatching Hawaiian green sea turtles and fledgling Laysan albatross.

"The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are critical to the Hawaiian monk seal," Naughton said. "We are in pupping season now."

Don Palawski of U.S. Fish and Wildlife said scientists stationed on islands in the area have been watching the wildlife closely and have seen no oiled monk seals or other animals.

Rumors have surfaced that Casitas navigating with an inoperative depth finder, but Brown and the other officials refused to comment yesterday on the ship's equipment, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Brown did say Casitas had been certified to operate at night.