(Updates with Coast Guard, Shell comments)
SEATTLE, June 15 (Reuters) - A Royal Dutch Shell PLC drilling rig that will search for oil in the Arcticleft its temporary base in Seattle on Monday for the trip northto Alaska as dozens of activists in kayaks tried to stop it,authorities said.
Live television showed the rig being towed out of itsterminal at the Port of Seattle with kayakers fanning out in anarc as it moved into the Puget Sound.
Twenty-five people were detained by the Coast Guard forviolating a safety zone around the vessel and were fined $500each, Coast Guard spokesman George Degener said.
The rig paused at Bainbridge Island, west of Seattle, andseveral tweets indicated it had beached. Degener said thereports were incorrect and the rig was changing towingconfiguration.
Seattle City Council member Mike O'Brien was among theactivists who paddled out to oppose Shell's plans to resumedrilling for fossil fuels in the Arctic, one of the mostecologically sensitive regions in the world.
Environmental groups say looking for oil in the remoteArctic could lead to a disaster in an area that helps regulatethe global climate because of its vast layers of sea ice.
Activists also say an oil spill would be nearly impossibleto handle in Arctic conditions. Shell has told federal officialsthat its would be able to remove 90 to 95 percent of any oilspill.
The rig left Seattle on Monday even as the oil major waitedon final permits from the federal government to return to thewaters off Alaska after a mishap-filled 2012 season.
Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said the rig was on scheduleand a second drilling vessel would depart for Alaska in comingweeks.
"We remain committed to operating in a safe, environmentallyresponsible manner and look forward to exploring our Chukchileases in the weeks to come," he said in an email.
Last week, Shell cleared major hurdles when a federalappeals court struck down a challenge to its oil spill responseplans and after President Barack Obama upheld a 2008 Arcticlease sale.
Activists in Alaska have also vowed to keep pressure on thecompany ahead of its return to the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas,home to whales, walrus and polar bears.
The Coast Guard said it will remain with the vessel as itmoves through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, then will leave itonce it hits the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. (Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Cynthia Johnstonand Sandra Maler)
