Workers began removing fuel from a ship that ran aground in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and pumping it into the holding tank of a Coast Guard cutter yesterday, the Coast Guard announced.

The 145-foot Casitas was contracted to assist a group of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists and divers with removing fishing nets and other debris from the reef in the protected national wildlife refuge. It ran aground at Pearl and Hermes Atoll shortly after midnight on July 2.

Unified Command, led by the Coast Guard and including representatives from NOAA, National Fish and Wildlife, the state Health Department and a company contracted by the ship's owners, is conducting the fuel removal.

Once fuel and oil have been removed from the Casitas, Unified Command will remove the ship from the reef.

About 10 percent of the 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel aboard the Casitas was removed and pumped to the Coast Guard cutter Walnut between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. yesterday, the Coast Guard reported.

The vessel American Quest will be on scene today to assist the crew of the Walnut.

Coast Guard C-130 aircraft have flown over the wreckage daily to look for evidence of environmental problems, the Coast Guard said, but crews have not seen a sheen on the water since Monday.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service observers in the area have reported no oiled wildlife.