January 19, 2021 — Coast Guard officials say man has been rescued from his sunken fishing vessel off the North Carolina coast.
Officials say the man was rescued Monday with the help of a good Samaritan about 20 miles southwest of Kitty Hawk.
Coast Guard officials received a report from the father-in-law of a man whose 18-foot boat sunk at the mouth of Alligator River, near East Lake.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at 13 News Now
December 11, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) authored and helped secure key Coast Guard and environmental priorities in the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act, which passed the Senate today by a vote of 84-13 as part of the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021. The Coast Guard Reauthorization Act includes provisions to promote the recruitment and retention of women in the Coast Guard, formally authorize six polar icebreakers, strengthen oil spill prevention measures, and establish new protections for Southern resident orcas. The legislation was passed by the Senate Commerce Committee last July and included in this year’s NDAA. The NDAA passed the House of Representatives earlier this week by a vote of 335-78.
Provisions Cantwell helped secure as part of the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act will:
Support Coast Guard women and families
In a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Cantwell highlighted the impact these reforms could have on women serving in the Coast Guard: “[We are] Instituting new reforms within the Coast Guard to really help and empower women… and to make sure that they have what they need, [including] vital child care opportunities for Coast Guard families. And to make sure there is zero tolerance in the approach to any kind of sexual assault or sexual harassment.”
Authorize six icebreakers and advance U.S. Arctic leadership
December 10, 2020 — The second-in-command of the U.S. Coast Guard shouldered some of the blame on Tuesday for incidents in August in which the Russian military intimidated Bering Sea fishermen out of American waters.
Admiral Charles Ray told a U.S. Senate panel the Coast Guard knew Russia was conducting a military exercise in the area and failed to tell the Bering Sea fishing industry.
“This was not our best day, with regards to doing our role to look after American fishermen — the U.S. Coast Guard,” Ray said. “I’ll just be quite frank: We own some of this.”
December 4, 2020 — More than $100,000 has been raised to support the families of four Maine fishermen who were lost at sea last week.
The Coast Guard suspended its search off the coast of Provincetown, Mass. last Tuesday night.
Jeff Matthews, Ethan Ward, Mikey Porper, and Bobby Blethen were all on board, according to officials.
A GoFundMe page set up by the family that owned the vessel has raised upwards of $110,000.
“We have set up this page to support the families of the F/V EmmyRose and to ease their financial burden,” Rosalee Varian, whose father owns the boat, wrote on the page. “These four families lost a husband, a father, a son, a grandson, a brother, and a nephew right before the holidays. These families need all the love and support that our community can give.”
November 30, 2020 — “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.”
Those words are from the Bible’s Psalm 107. Some of them are also engraved on the Fisherman’s Memorial in Gloucester, Massachusetts, honoring lives lost at sea.
Tragically, it seems that four more Maine fishermen have been lost. The Coast Guard suspended its search on Nov. 24 for the missing crew of the Emmy Rose, a Portland-based commercial fishing vessel that was en route to Gloucester when it sank in the early hours of Monday, Nov. 23.
All four of those crewmembers are from Maine: skipper Robert Blethen, Jeffrey Matthews, Michael Porper and Ethan Ward.
“The decision to suspend a search is never an easy one,” said Capt. Wesley Hester, search and rescue mission coordinator for the Coast Guard’s First District. “We extend our condolences to the friends and loved ones of these fishermen during this trying time.
A candlelit vigil was held in Portland Wednesday night. Thousands of dollars have already been raised to support their families. Public officials have spoken out.
November 30, 2020 — Four fishermen lost at sea last week when their fishing vessel, the Emmy Rose, sank off the Massachusetts coast, were “honorable men” who loved their families and the sea, according to a GoFundMe page organized for their grieving families.
“These four men were the best out there. They will be deeply missed, but they will never be forgotten,” the organizer of the page wrote.
The Coast Guard on Tuesday night suspended the search for the four men whose boat sank in eight-foot waves off Provincetown. Crews searched more than 2,000 square miles for 38 hours.
The page, created Wednesday, had raised nearly $83,000 of its $100,000 goal as of Saturday morning. The money funds will go to the families of the Emmy Rose crew who held a candlelight vigil Wednesday night that included about 100 people.
November 27, 2020 — Members of Portland’s fishing community gathered on the city’s waterfront Wednesday night to remember and honor the four Maine men who were lost at sea when the Emmy Rose sank off Cape Cod early Monday.
Candlelight vigils were held on the Maine State Pier and on the Portland Fish Pier, with roughly 100 people between both sites talking about the men, their lives and their devotion to fishing.
At the Maine State Pier, family and friends placed candles around a makeshift memorial that said, “Family is the anchor that holds us through life’s storms.” At the Portland Fish Pier, candles were placed in front of the fishermen’s memorial that says, “In memory of those lost at sea.”
The 82-foot Emmy Rose, which was based in Portland, sank early Monday roughly 22 miles northeast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, where 30-knot winds were whipping up 6- to 8-foot waves.
The Coast Guard suspended its search for the boat Tuesday evening.
November 25, 2020 — It was almost exactly a year ago that a scalloper out of New Bedford sank, taking the lives of three men on board and adding to the long roll call of people who die each year to put flounder, scallops and haddock on the table.
Tragically, that toll continued to go up this week with word the Emmy Rose, a Portland-based fishing boat, sank in high winds and rough seas off the coast of Provincetown. Although the U.S. Coast Guard was continuing to search for the four crew members, the empty life raft and debris found Monday morning near the last known location of the vessel left little reason for hope.
Fishing has always been a dangerous job. Even with improvements in technology, emergency location devices, life rafts and survival suits, the quest for seafood has pushed fishermen and some women farther out to sea in often treacherous and unpredictable weather. The Emmy Rose disappeared at a time when the wind was gusting to 30 mph or more, and seas were reportedly 6 to 8 feet – conditions severe enough to force a rescue helicopter to return to base.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health regularly documents the dangers of working conditions in many industries. Working on a commercial fishing boat means working in a hazardous environment. It’s strenuous work with long hours and in all kinds of weather – often on a slippery, rolling work surface with heavy equipment and many moving parts.
November 25, 2020 — The Coast Guard said Tuesday it called off the search for the four-member crew of a Maine fishing boat that sank off Massachusetts.
The Coast Guard searched an area of approximately 2,066 square miles for more than 38 hours, Capt. Wesley Hester said in a release.
“The decision to suspend a search is never an easy one,” Hester said. “We extend our condolences to the friends and loved ones of these fishermen during this trying time.”
The 82-foot (25-meter) Emmy Rose, based in Portland, Maine, went down about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, around 1:30 a.m. Monday. It was heading for Gloucester, Massachusetts.
November 25, 2020 — Maine‘s commercial fishing community is mourning the loss of four fishermen who went missing when an 82-foot (25-meter) fishing vessel sank off Provincetown, Massachusetts.
The Coast Guard said Tuesday it called off the search for the crew of the Portland-based Emmy Rose that sank early Monday morning while en route to Gloucester, Massachusetts. The four men aboard were all Maine fishermen, authorities said.
The Sustainable Harvest Sector, a group of 100 fishing vessel owners and operators, identified the crew members as Robert Blethen; Jeff Matthews; Michael Porper and Ethan Ward. Members of the fishing community contributed to a GoFundMe for the men’s families that had attracted dozen of donations by Wednesday afternoon.
The fishermen were harvesting groundfish such as haddock. The cause of the vessel’s sinking remains undetermined.
“My heart goes out to the family and community of the fishermen aboard the F/V Emmy Rose,” said Maine Rep. Genevieve McDonald, who is a lobster boat captain.
The Sustainable Harvest Sector said in a statement that it would release information about memorial services for the fishermen when they are available.