Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Lily Jean crew member lost at sea was loyal, hard-working friend

February 17, 2026 — Loved ones of a 33-year-old crew member aboard The Lily Jean, a Gloucester fishing vessel that sunk at the end of January, remember him as a loving and hard-working man who would “give the shirt off his back” to anyone who needed it.

John Paul Rousanidis, 33, of Peabody, died on Jan. 30. He was one of seven people aboard the fishing boat when it went down off the coast of Cape Ann. The Coast Guard searched into the night for the missing crew members, discovering just one body, a debris field and the boat’s empty life raft.

Read the full article at Mass Live

MASSACHUSETTS: Sunken Gloucester fishing boat: How to support the families of the 7 crew members

February 3, 2026 — As the North Shore and New England fishing communities mourn the loss of the seven crew members of a Gloucester fishing boat that sank off the coast of Cape Ann on Friday, fundraisers are collecting money for the families of the crew.

The U.S. Coast Guard began searching for a 72-foot fishing vessel known as the “Lily Jean” Friday morning after receiving a signal from an emergency position-indicating beacon, the Coast Guard said previously. By Friday evening, searchers had discovered a debris field near the signal’s reported location and recovered one of the crew members’ bodies.

After searching nearly 1,050 square miles over the course of a day, the Coast Guard suspended its search Saturday morning. The Lily Jean was returning to Gloucester after a fishing trip when it sank.

It is unclear what caused the sinking of the Lily Jean, but on Monday, the Coast Guard announced it would be conducting “a district-level formal investigation” into the incident. The Coast Guard also officially identified the fishing vessel’s crew members.

The crew members have been identified as:

  • Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo, captain
  • Paul Beal Sr., crew
  • Paul Beal Jr., crew
  • John Rousanidis, crew
  • Freeman Short, crew
  • Sean Therrien, crew
  • Jada Samitt, NOAA fisheries observer and crew

Those looking to offer support to the families of all the crew members should donate to a local non-profit called Fishing Partnership Support Services, Gloucester State Sen. Bruce Tarr, a Republican, recommended Monday.

Read the full article at MassLive

Victims of sunken Gloucester fishing vessel the Lily Jean remembered at memorial service, “It’s just a hard life”

February 2, 2026 — Two days after seven crew members of the fishing boat the Lily Jean were lost at sea off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts the community came together for a memorial Mass.

It was an emotional scene Sunday at Saint Ann Church in Gloucester, and it was cathartic the way this community is coming together for one another.

“Things can change quickly. It’s just a hard life. I got out years ago so I could see my kids grow,” said retired fisherman Domenic Dimaio. He went to school with the captain of the Lily Jean.

“I just, I don’t know. I am in shock,” he added.

Al Cottone was also at the memorial. The fisherman knew the captain most of his life. Their fathers grew up together in Sicily.

Read the full article at CBS News

Tragedy off America’s oldest seaport claims 7 lives as fishing boat sinks in frigid waters

February 2, 2026 — The seven victims of a marine disaster that devastated a storied Massachusetts fishing town included a fifth-generation fisherman, a young federal fisheries observer and a father-and-son crew duo. All died when their fishing boat, the Lily Jean, sank in waters off America’s oldest seaport.

The sinking underscored the risks long inherent in Gloucester’s fishing industry, which spans more than 400 years and was famously chronicled in “The Perfect Storm.” The names of the crew will be added to a city memorial honoring thousands of fishermen lost at sea over generations.

The 72-foot (22-meter) vessel was returning to port early Friday to repair fishing gear when it sank in frigid Atlantic waters. The U.S. Coast Guard announced Monday that it was launching a formal investigation into the sinking after suspending a search for survivors Saturday. It has not said what might have caused the sinking, though it said ice buildup from freezing ocean spray can cause a boat to capsize.

“You fish in federal waters, you fish in a Gloucester boat, and you lose your life, you’re forever a Gloucester fisherman,” Gloucester fisherman Al Cottone said.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

NOAA observer identified among victims of missing Gloucester fishing vessel

February 2, 2026 — The close-knit community of Gloucester came together Sunday, mourning the crew of the fishing vessel Lily Jean lost at sea in a tragic accident Friday, as shaken visitors piled flowers at the city’s iconic Fisherman’s Memorial and families huddled inside a stone church.

By the late afternoon, hundreds attended a memorial mass for those aboard the Lily Jean at St. Ann’s Church. At the beginning of the mass, the families of the vessel’s seven crew members lit candles in front of framed pictures of their lost loved ones.

“When we hurt, when we grieve, when we are in pain, we come together,” Rev. James Achadinha said during the somber service.

The full identities of the Lily Jean’s crew have not been shared officially. Coast Guard officials said over the weekend they estimated releasing the information Monday following family notifications.

But one of the crew has been identified by her family as 22-year-old federal fisheries observer Jada Samitt.

Samitt was on the Lily Jean about 25 miles off the coast of Cape Ann when the ship sank on Friday. The Coast Guard found debris and one body in the water. The Coast Guard looked for survivors for 24-hours before calling off the search Saturday during frigid winter conditions with seven-to-ten foot waves and 30-knot-winds.

Samitt had been on board as an observer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries.

Read the full article at The Boston Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Coast Guard identifies all 7 crew members of fishing boat that sank of Gloucester coast

February 2, 2026 — The Coast Guard has officially identified all seven crew members who were aboard a fishing boat when it sank off the coast of Gloucester on Friday.

The seven crew members were:

  • Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo, captain
  • Paul Beal Sr., crew
  • Paul Beal Jr., crew
  • John Rousanidis, crew
  • Freeman Short, crew
  • Sean Therrien, crew
  • Jada Samitt, NOAA fisheries observer and crew
As of Sunday afternoon, family and friends of nearly all of the crew members had come forward to identify them.

US Coast Guard debriefs Congress on efforts to stop IUU fishing

January 15, 2026 — U.S. government officials told Congressional lawmakers the Coast Guard needs more vessels, personnel, and tools to prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) in U.S. and distant waters.

“IUU is a threat to both the global economy and the U.S. economy. The illegal catch that is brought into the United States … impacts the USD 150 billion [EUR 129 billion] that our fishermen bring to the global domestic product,” Rear Admiral David Barata, the Coast Guard’s deputy commandant for operations policy, testified to lawmakers during a 13 January House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee hearing.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Coast Guard helicopter crew battles high winds to rescue 9 from grounded fishing boat in Alaska

January 7, 2026 — Nine crew members were hoisted to a helicopter off a commercial crab boat amid near gale force winds, strong downward drafts from a nearby cliff and rough seas after the fishing vessel grounded on an Alaska island in the Bering Sea.

The Coast Guard said there were no injuries to the crew members of the Arctic Sea, a 134-foot (41-meter) boat owned by the Coastal Villages Region Fund and fishing for tanner crab.

The ship grounded Monday on the northern shore of Saint George Island, the southernmost of the small Pribilofs islands group with fewer than 100 residents, predominantly Aleuts. The group of islands is located about 750 miles (1,207 kilometers) west of Anchorage.

“I’m on the fog, I’m on the beach, we lost our steering,” someone from the Arctic Sea reports to the Coast Guard when calling in a mayday, according to audio provided by the Coast Guard. “We’re taking on water.”

Read the full article at the Associated Press

ALASKA: Coast Guard may briefly be unable to hear distress calls in Southeast Alaska this week

November 4, 2025 — The U. S. Coast Guard may briefly be unable to hear distress calls in Southeast Alaska for 3-5 minute intervals this week.

The Coast Guard sent out a notice on Monday, Nov. 3, that they would be undergoing maintenance upgrades from Nov. 3 – 7 – and this would impact receiving messages on the region’s emergency VHF channel 16.

In the broadly distributed email, the Coast Guard said they “may be unable to listen to or respond to distress calls on CH16 starting 03NOV25 until 07NOV25.”

But in a statement to KFSK later, the Coast Guard wrote, “the VHF-FM marine radio will not be down the entire 96 hours. It will experience a brief interruption, lasting only 3-5 minutes, during a scheduled upgrade within that 96-hour time frame.”

Read the full article at KFSK