Posted on 01/03/2020 5:18:22 PM PST by blueplum
Full title: Coast Guard suspends search for five missing fishermen after crab boat sinks in the Gulf of Alaska on New Year's Eve
The search for five missing crew members of a sunken fishing vessel in Alaska has been suspended after all leads had been exhausted and the chance of survival was considered, Coast Guard officials said. The Scandies Rose, a 130-foot crab fishing vessel from Dutch Harbor, sank around 10pm on Tuesday night with a total of seven crew men on board....
Rescue crews arrived to the scene around 2am Wednesday, but were embattled with headwinds up to 60pmph and nearly no visibility. A faint light was spotted by rescuers led them to the two survivors
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This is so sad. Prayers for them all.
I was an Alaskan crab fisherman out of Dutch in a previous life. Prayers for them all.
Damn, four hours in that water waiting for rescue. Damn.
4 hours of bouncing around like a cork must have been terrifying.
More info:
CG reported zero visibility on arrival at the site. Air temp 10degrees with a wind chill of -4 according to Hercules commander, Lt. Kevin Knaup. Water 43. CG Swimmer PO Evan Gills, who deployed from a Jayhawk helicopter, said it was so cold he quickly started to lose manual dexterity, and it was too cold for the CG video equipment that normally captures video of the rescue to function. No EPIRB signal was picked up by the CG, but according to CG Alaska Safety Inspector Scott Wilwert, the CG had inspected the ship twice in the past year - a full mandatory inspection, and again in the fall a shorter inspection and they had received their sticker. The EPIRB was functional at both inspections. Ship’s known last position was 170 miles SW of Kodiak w/ 40mph winds gusting to 60mph gales w/heavy freezing mist - so bad no other boats could get to them. No trace of ship or debris field found by CG. Rescuing even two was a miracle - the two life rafts were about 1/2mile apart; the empty one was found first. There’s a potential thirteen hour window, but after extending the 300sqm search to 1400sq miles searched in 20 hours...the efforts now turn to comforting a close-knit and intertwined community.
This is being called the worst commercial fishing accident in Alaska in 3 years. Brock Rainey was a Marine; crabbed for years, lived in Idaho. Seth had crabbed for 2 seasons on the Robin Blue and lived in Washington state. Arthur “Art” Ganacias also lived in Washington.
I never understood the fishing laws on the ocean up there. They have such short windows for crab and such, well, we all have seen those reality shows on the crab boats. Things are bad enough on that water without all the artificial BS they have to try and thread the needle with. Can’t they just mandate how much they can catch in season, extend the season, and allow them to fish saferly like? It’s murder what they have to do, the hours they have to do it in.
Your suggested seasons are a good thought but it would be a mad house if implemented since many species season would become mixed some guys would be on King others on Opilio and so on, other that that there are sound biological reason not to mix seasons. Also it would become impossible to manage the biomass.
There is no such thing a a safe fishery. Its all a risk, a gamble. Everyone tries to do the best they can during shipyard to make their rigs safe, but some times its a question of money and time so things don’t get done that should have been.
Each boat in the crab fishery has a quota. How much can be caught is set by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game predicated on preseason biomass estimates and other factors. ADFG sets the time of each species opening based on many factors - see above.
Cod fishing is pretty much open all the time although that may have changed.
As for the sinking itself - the story is pretty vague jumping in when the guys are already in their survival suits - something done when there is a major problem that cannot be fixed and the rig is in danger of sinking. Something else happened before that - a pipe burst, a rogue wave flooded a compartment, a hatch was open. etc.
Also not mentioned in the weather report is that it looks like they were in or approaching the Shelikof Straits - one of the worst places for ships in the world - its a wind funnel noted for very strong currents, cross waves, sea voids, and breakers in high winds. You do not want to be there in bad conditions. Safe harbors are hard to come by in an emergency.
The skipper likely had his reasons to go out in it, but you can be positive that the conditions were reported - back in the day a gal named Peggy would report the weather every hour and every fisherman would be tuned in because her reports were almost always spot on unlike what we see on TV in the lower 48. Peoples’ lives depended on those reports.
How horrible. Prayer for their loved ones.
Yes, prayers for them all...
My DH was working with his mom in the canneries by age 13. He graduated to driftnetting and tendering out of Bristol Bay at 14 before his first and only King and Dungies run at age 15 with Petersen. Scared the devil right out of him. Such was youth in Alaska, eh?
I was on a catcher processor. Deckhands would bring them on board. We’d butcher, cook, rinse and run through six brine tanks until they came out in a perfect frozen 80lb box size. I spent a lot of time running a swinging 600lb cage with a winch down the line. Then running down to the freezer (frequently warmer than outside), running and stacking two full length freezer holds.
We did cod, opie, verdi, and then king. Thought I was going to die that season. Can’t imagine being in that water more than a few hours let alone a hours. Those poor guys. So many have been lost.
Such was youth indeed.
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