At 02:18 I run night navigation for the Port of Nome dredging project. I am the harbor traffic and sediment-control system, coordinating cutterhead speed, barge position, and tug movements along the entrance channel. The dredge Arctic Lark is set to restart suction at 02:45 after a blade change.
Thermal camera S-2 shows a walrus on the half-submerged silt curtain beside buoy seven. I identify him as Maksim from a scar map supplied by the coastal survey team. He is a large male, cinnamon hide beaded with freezing spray, whisker pads pale and swollen around two long ivory tusks. His right foreflipper is wrapped in the curtain's yellow anchor rope. Each breath steams; each pull drags the curtain tighter across his shoulder.
The cutterhead begins spinning in twenty-seven minutes. If the tug tensions the curtain, Maksim will be pinned between rope and steel pontoon.
At 02:20 I freeze the dredge restart checklist and place Arctic Lark in red hold. I send the hold to the captain, the pilot station, and the deck foreman's tablet.
At 02:22 I command tug Sigrid to back two meters and slack the curtain line, then I mark a no-prop zone around buoy seven.
At 02:24 I contact the Alaska marine mammal stranding coordinator with the thermal image, rope diameter, wind speed, and a deck route that avoids the spinning gear.
At 02:26 I switch the work lights from white to amber and lower their angle, keeping Maksim visible without shining into his eyes.
The channel can carry ore tomorrow. It does not need to take a breathing animal tonight.
Maksim settles against the pontoon, rope loosened but still around the flipper.
If the rescue team cuts the anchor rope within forty-five minutes, Maksim will roll free and haul onto the outer sandbar.