By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
A search and rescue operation to locate a fisherman missing since a fish dragger sank in waters off Yarmouth County on Wednesday morning ended Thursday at 1 p.m., without the captain – 60-year-old Meteghan area resident David Trask – being found.
“All avenues have been exhausted,” Major James Simiana, a public affairs officer with Joint Task Fore Atlantic in Halifax, said shortly after noon on Thursday.
He told The Vanguard after the search had been called off, that the search area, which was hundreds of kilometres wide, had been “very extensively gone over several times” by the search and rescue aircraft and the Coast Guard vessel that were tasked to the search.
“It’s all very regrettable but the determination has been made that at this point it would now by beyond the survival capability of the missing fisherman given the weather conditions that have prevailed since the ship sinking,” Simiana added.
The Pubnico Explorer was returning to its homeport on Wednesday after a fishing trip that had lasted a few days when the vessel started taking on water. Pumps on the vessel were unable to hold back the rush of water and eventually the vessel capsized and sank about 28 kilometres northwest of Yarmouth in the area of Port Maitland.
The last time the crewmembers saw the captain of the vessel, he was still on board the boat wearing a full immersion suit.
A Hercules aircraft, a Cormorant helicopter and the Coast Guard vessel Edward Cornwallis, which have been involved in the search since yesterday, were released from the active search Thursday.
The matter has now been turned over to the RCMP as a missing persons case. The RCMP issued a media release Thursday afternoon seeking the public's assistance is locating the missing fisherman.
The Meteghan RCMP have contacted the RCMP Underwater Recovery Team and in incident commander of the local ground search and rescue team to assess search options in locating the missing man.
Search officials said calling off the air and water search was a difficult decision to make, given that the fisherman had not been found.
This was never an easy search effort. Aside from the vast area to be searched, the weather and poor visibility forced the suspension of air activity overnight and on the second day of the search rough seas and poor visibility were still hampering efforts.
Search and rescue aircraft were back in the air at first light on Thursday morning searching for the fishing captain who had been missing since his fish dragger sank in waters off Yarmouth County the morning of Dec. 16.
Three other crewmembers who were onboard the Pubnico Explorer – a vessel based out of Meteghan and reported to be owned by Comeauville Seafood Products Ltd. in Digby County – were plucked from a liferaft by crew of the Coast Guard cutter Westport late Wednesday morning, more than an hour after the crew had sent out a distress call.
The cutter, which saw no sign of the Pubnico Explorer when it arrived on the scene, stayed in the area for a couple of hours to search for the missing fisherman before bringing the crew back to shore. The men were reunited with their families at the Meteghan wharf.
Throughout Thursday morning a Hercules aircraft and Cormorant helicopter were back in the air scanning the search area in a grid pattern, while the Coast Guard vessel Edward Cornwallis was in the water.
“The search box about 15 by 18 nautical miles so that puts it around 270 square nautical miles….as I think anyone can appreciate, looking for one individual in the water is the proverbial needle in the haystack,” said Major Simiana Thursday morning.
Resources had been in the air late Wednesday night until poor visibility caused by snow squalls forced a suspension of the air effort. At the time on board the Hercules and Cormorant were night-vision-goggle-trained spotters with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association in Yarmouth.
As well, the U.S. Coast Guard station in Cape Cod sent a Falcon jet with nighttime infrared capability to aid in the search. It spent about two hours in the air Wednesday night trying to detect heat sources in the water. It found none.
On Thursday winds are gusting 25 to 30 knots and waves are three to five metres.
The water depth in the area where the vessel sank was said to be 200 feet.
Search called off for missing fisherman
This photo taken from onboard the Coast Guard vessel Edward Cornwallis shows the sea state at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 16 in the area where the search for a missing fisherman following the sinking of the Pubnico Explorer. Winds were northwest 25 to 30 knots knots and seas where three metres, down from the 4-6 metres when the vessel capsized. PHOTO COURTESY CANADIAN COAST GUARD
Aircraft and Coast Guard vessel released from search at 1 p.m.
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