Tag Archives: F/V Miss Cory

Investigation results released after fatal herring boat sinking

The chain of events that led to a fishing boat sinking off Cape Lazo have been released. Back on March 6, 2017, the Miss Cory had been fishing for herring in the Strait of Georgia after sailing out of Comox for the fishery opening that day. The fishing boat was 19.5 metres in length, and based out of Prince Rupert. It had sent out a distress call around 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon, at a location around five and a half kilometres out from Cape Lazo. At the time of the sinking, four crew members were rescued by a nearby vessel, the Proud Venture. One person was unaccounted for and declared missing. >click to read<08:41

Updated: Man feared dead in B.C. capsizing identified as ‘loving husband, brother, uncle’

Investigators spent the day searching for answers after a herring boat flipped and capsized near Comox, while one crew member remained missing and was presumed drowned. Alert Bay resident Mel Rocchio, 51, was on the vessel “Miss Cory” fishing for herring near Cape Lazo, about three nautical miles northeast of Comox, with four other crew members. Just before 4 p.m. the boat flipped, tossing four crew members into the ocean while Rocchio was trapped in the engine room, according to his brother Jim. “They had a really big set. The boat was listing and Mel went down into the engine room to turn the pumps on, and while he was down there the boat rolled over,” he said. continue reading the story here 08:17 From another article – Rocchio had been fishing out of the Campbell River Fisherman’s Wharf for about 15 years, according to Phyllis Titus, manager of the Campbell River Harbour Authority. Some in the fishing industry would jokingly call him “Melfunction,” Titus said, but Rocchio was a jack of all trades: heavy equipment operator, mechanic, carpenter and hunter. “He was a fabulous man, one of the true gentlemen in the fishing industry,” she said. Read the story here 09:13

Seine roe-herring fishery opens with sinking of vessel, one crew member missing

STRAIT OF GEORGIA — The commercial seine roe-herring fishery opened Monday to disaster with the sinking of the vessel, Miss Cory, and a search underway for a missing crew member. Dan Bate, spokesman for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said Marine Communications and Traffic Services in Victoria at 4 p.m. overheard a report that a fishing vessel had capsized off Cape Lazo near Comox on Vancouver Island. Four persons were recovered by another fishing vessel. The fifth crew member missing had been in the engine room during the capsizing and sinking in deep water, he said. The Canadian Coast Guard in Powell River and French Creek, near Parksville, are being enlisted in the search, along with a Canadian Forces Cormorant and search-and-rescue volunteers in Comox.  continue reading the story here 23:58