Tag Archives: Canadian Coast Guard

Search expands for missing Labrador fishermen, family and friends hold out hope

The search for Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins of Mary’s Harbour is now in its fifth day, with a large dive team from the RCMP’s underwater recovery team and Deer Lake ground search and rescue en route to the community Wednesday afternoon. The Ocean Seeker, a vessel equipped with advanced underwater imaging and owned by Kraken Robotics, has also been greenlighted to join the search and is on its way. “We were very proud yesterday after asking RCMP to to look into that asset, and last night it came true and they should be here tomorrow,” said Dwight Russell, Marc Russell’s father. >click to read< 15:55

Search resumes for missing Mary’s Harbour fishermen with Canadian Armed Forces, Coast Guard

The search for two missing fishermen from Mary’s Harbour has resumed with the help of the Canadian Armed Forces and the coast guard Monday, after the official search off the coast of southern Labrador was called off Sunday night. The JRCC tweeted around 9 p.m. Sunday that it had suspended the search for the Island Lady,,, Dwight Russell told CBC News on Monday morning his family was told the news around 7 p.m Sunday. After that call, he and his family pressed federal departments like the office of the prime minister, he said, and had been promised the search would resume. But come Monday morning and that promise “has not materialized,,, >click to read< 14:25

‘Our boys deserve more time’ – “This is unacceptable! This is absolutely the wrong decision! It is too soon!”

The father of one of the two men aboard a fishing vessel lost in waters off southern Labrador is appealing to the Canadian Coast Guard to reverse its decision to change its mission from one of search and rescue to recovery. Local fishermen began the search, which was later joined by the Coast Guard and aircraft at the direction of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Halifax.,, Dwight Russell said the family learned of Coast Guard’s plans Sunday evening. “But as I write this, the Coast Guard has informed our families that they are pulling out and changing the mission from search & rescue to recovery, and operational control will be turned over to the RCMP. >click to read< 08:36

Search for Mary’s Harbour fishermen enters 2nd day as N.L. communities hold vigils overnight

The fishermen, Marc Russell and Joey Jenkins, were expected to land in Mary’s Harbour around 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Local fishing crews began the search that evening. The JRCC and the Canadian Coast Guard joined later that night after picking up radio chatter from the ongoing search,,, the provincial government and a significant number of local vessels have also aided in the search, which has greatly enhanced searching capabilities. Several vessels were on the water Saturday evening after Dwight Russell, Marc Russell’s father, made a call to fishers in the area to aid in the search.  >photos, click to read< 13:21

Search underway for missing fishers off Mary’s Harbour – The father of a fisherman missing at sea is asking boats from Southern Labrador and Northern Newfoundland to join the search effort for his son and a second crew member. The two-person crew aboard Island Lady was expected to land in Mary’s Harbour around 5:00 p.m. on Friday. >click to read< 17:22

Canadian Coast Guard destroys man’s boat, then sues to cover $8,500 bill

A Campbell River man is being sued for over $8,500 in federal court after he says the Canadian Coast Guard destroyed his boat without his knowledge. Tom Puglas, 76, of the Mamalilikulla First Nation, said it all began on a 2017 salmon fishing trip. When his 39-foot wood-hulled gillnetter broke down, he moored it along the outside finger of a dock in Port McNeill. According to federal court documents, the Canadian Coast Guard was called in on Aug. 22, 2017, after reports Puglas’s vessel was sinking and discharging oil. The documents claim the Coast Guard contacted Puglas, who said he would remove the vessel from the water and make any necessary repair. Puglas denies that ever happened. >click to read< 09:17

Crab fishing season off to early start on the Acadian Peninsula

New Brunswick’s snow crab fishers have begun their season. At the wharf in Shippagan, boats prepared to take to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence late Friday despite frigid temperatures and the presence of ice in some places. The season officially began at midnight. For Capt. Renald Guignard, it marked the continuation of a family tradition. The Acadian Peninsula received help from icebreakers from the Canadian Coast Guard and contracted boats to allow access to the waters before endangered North Atlantic right whales arrive. >click to read< 17:30

Icebreakers are clearing the way for early Snow crab season with less risk for right whales

New Brunswick’s lucrative snow crab industry is just weeks away from a head start to the season, could result in higher revenue and less risk for North Atlantic right whales. Icebreakers from the Canadian Coast Guard and contracted boats began clearing the waters near Shippagan and Caraquet on the Acadian Peninsula over the weekend. Gilles Thériault, who lives in Tracadie, said fishermen are thankful for the icebreakers. “The quicker we catch our quota, the less danger there is of whales being trapped into ropes,” he said. “We hope that the vast majority of the quota will be caught before the whales arrive.” >click to read< 15:43

Cost of Coast Guard ship nears $1B as questions mount over federal shipbuilding plan

The federal government has quietly revealed that it plans to pay nearly $1 billion to build a new ocean research vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard whose original cost was supposed to be one-tenth that amount. The new cost estimate for the offshore oceanographic science vessel represents the latest blow to Ottawa’s multibillion-dollar plan to build new ships for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Coast Guard, first revealed more than a decade ago and beset by problems ever since. >click to read< 06:50

ROV introduced into search for F/V Chief William Saulis and missing fishermen

On Friday the RCMP, in partnership with the Canadian Coast Guard who provided a platform, and Canada Border Services Agency providing a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), were on the water continuing the search. The search did not locate the missing vessel, a Jan. 2 media release update reads. Due to unfavourable and deteriorating conditions, there is no search activity happening on Jan. 2 “Expectations are to return to the water Jan. 3 to resume the search, weather and water conditions permitting,” the RCMP says. >click to read< 07:07

Coast guard vessel with platform to help with search for missing scallop dragger

The Canadian Coast Guard has deployed a vessel with a platform to help search the Bay of Fundy for a scallop dragger that went missing two weeks ago. The coast guard vessel left Dartmouth on Wednesday and should arrive in Digby, N.S., by Friday, according to a release from the Nova Scotia RCMP. From there, the RCMP’s underwater recovery team will be able to perform sonar exploration in the area in search of the Chief William Saulis. The fishing vessel with six men on board sent out an emergency beacon near Delaps Cove, N.S., in the early morning of Dec. 15. >click to read< 19:09

RCMP resumes aerial search, C.G. planning sonar exploration for missing F/V Chief William Saulis fishermen

The search will take place about 100 kilometres off the coast from Digby Gut to Harbourville by helicopter, according to a news release. The scallop vessel sank in the early hours of Dec. 15 off the coast of Delaps Cove. The Nova Scotia RCMP and the RCMP Underwater Recovery Team are currently in the planning stages of a partnership with the Canadian Coast Guard to provide a platform which will assist in recovery efforts, including sonar exploration. >click to read< 15:44

Crew of five abandons vessel and makes it to shore

A fishing vessel went aground in rough surf off Yarmouth Bar early on Dec. 15. Lieutenant commander Brian Owens, senior public affairs officer with Joint Task Force (Atlantic) and Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) Halifax, says the centre received a call at 6:12 a.m. “The vessel went aground from all indications and five persons onboard abandoned the vessel, but thankfully, made it ashore,” he said. >click to read< 15:15

Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw lobster harvester to file an injunction against DFO for seizing traps

“I’m going to get (my lawyer) to file an injunction on my behalf preventing the DFO from violating my rights until they get this moderate livelihood stuff settled,” Matthew Cope, 34, said. Cope, who is from the Millbrook First Nation, said he left the wharf in Digby, N.S. on Aug. 29 to check on his lobster traps when he saw DFO officers aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Vessel, The Earl Grey, seizing 60 of his traps. “We had ten trawls of fifteen each. They took six of them. We caught them in the middle of taking our trawls so I stood up beside them and I said, ‘What are you guys doing?’” Cope explained. “I have a pre-existing inherited treaty right for fishing and I have a right to do so unhindered,” he said. >click to read< 21:46

1 dead, 1 found alive after fishing vessel goes missing near Gros Morne

One man is dead, while another has been found alive in the waters off Sally’s Cove, after a fishing boat was due back the day before, the Canadian Coast Guard confirmed in a statement Wednesday afternoon. The coast guard said a man was rescued from the water at about 10:30 Wednesday morning. Shortly after, the second man was located, but he was found unresponsive. The men were commercial fish harvesters, and they were expected to return to their home community of Sally’s Cove by 2 p.m. Tuesday. The Bonne Bay RCMP said they received a report Tuesday at 10 p.m. that the 21-foot open-boat fishing vessel was overdue. Search and rescue personnel organized immediately and a mayday alert was sent. >click to read< 16:24

Drilling fluid spill from Hibernia platform shuts down production

Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore regulatory board is reporting a spill of drilling and production fluid from the Hibernia platform during well operations on Sunday, leading to an immediate shutdown of production. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board said the spill was reported Monday by the Hibernia Management and Development Company after water sampling indicated an “exceedance of produced water discharge.” Produced water is a mixture of seawater from the reservoir, used in injection, with drilling and production fluids for normal production operations, according to a press release from the C-NLOPB. >click to read< 16:49

Five rescued after fishing vessel Exploits Navigator sinks – Canadian Coast Guard credits EPIRB

Early Thursday morning the Canadian Coast Guard Marine Communications and Traffic Services station in Port aux Basques received a distress call that the 40-foot fishing vessel Exploits Navigator had run aground in Trinity Bay. Five people were onboard. They abandoned the vessel and took to a life raft. They were rescued by the Coast Guard vessel Sacred Bay and taken to Hickman’s Harbour in good health. The Canadian Coast Guard credits an Emergency Position Indicating Radiobeacon (EPIRB) with helping them locate the life raft. >click to read< 11:44

F/V Sarah Anne: The deadly, relentless sea reminds us of the steep cost of fishing

I’ve long wondered how many people in North America, as they peruse the offerings at their supermarkets, specialty stores and menus, ever give much thought to the unseen, human cost behind their tasty seafood. Those who live close to the ocean know too well the perils that come with fishing. Those who don’t may never know.  This week, Newfoundland and Labrador felt that chill as St. Lawrence became the focus of a story that is both sadly and terrifyingly familiar. The Sarah Anne, a fishing boat with four men aboard, did not come back as expected Monday night with a load of crab, and indeed never came home at all. By John Gushue >click to read< 08:50

Despite mother’s pleas, search efforts are over for missing St. Lawrence fisherman

After the deaths of three fishermen at sea, the southern Newfoundland town of St. Lawrence is in shock, while the mother of a missing fourth man is pleading with officials to continue a search for her son. The search for family friend Isaac Kettle ended 8:45 p.m. Wednesday night. But Kettle’s mother, Aundriette Kettle, said Thursday she wants extra equipment to find and raise the Sarah Anne from the ocean, as she believes her son’s body is still on the vessel. “Them other bodies were found, [but] my son is on that boat. He needs to be brought up, they [need] to get cameras, things like that, on that ocean to bring him up,” Kettle said. “Isaac needs to be home to us, his family.” >click to read< 14:32

Coast Guard Ends Search for Isaac Kettle, Missing St. Lawrence Fisherman

The Coast Guard officially wound down its search for the last victim of a boating tragedy in Placentia Bay last evening. Officials said after an intensive search spanning 650 nautical miles, they believe there will no longer be any reasonable chance of survival for the fourth crew member. Three bodies were recovered from the ocean off St. Lawrence on Tuesday. The incident has now been turned over to the RCMP as a missing persons case. The Coast Guard is thanking the many volunteers who joined the search effort, and they send their condolences to the loved ones of all four crew members aboard the Sarah Anne and the entire community of St. Lawrence. >click to read< 08:18

Fishermen lost off St. Lawrence remembered as ‘the finest kind of people’

Family and friends of three fishermen whose bodies were recovered off the coast of St. Lawrence, and one still missing at sea, are remembering them as kind and hard-working people. The search for family friend Isaac Kettle, believed to be in his early 30s, will end at 8:45 p.m. NT, according to the coast guard. All four men went missing in the mouth of Placentia Bay, off the southeast coast of Newfoundland,,, When they were not back before 8   p.m. that evening, a search and rescue mission began and the Canadian Coast Guard was called.,, Eric Reeves, a fisherman of 30 years, joined in the search for his friends. Around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, he said, he found some items from the boat floating in the water. “We found a coffee mug belong to the skipper’s son and his name was wrote on it, and then we knew there was some tragedy happened,” said Reeves. “When you find something that you don’t want to find, I’ll tell ya, it’s heartbreaking.” >click to read< 18:13

UPDATE: Bodies of three St. Lawrence fishermen recovered, one fisherman still missing off Newfoundland’s south coast

The Canadian Coast Guard has recovered the body of a third fisherman missing off the coast of St. Lawrence, and crews are still searching for one other missing man. One man’s body was found at 4:15 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the second man’s body was found at 11:15 a.m., and the third man’s body was found at 11:40 a.m. Crews continue their search and rescue mission this afternoon.  Five fishing boats are involved in the search, along with the coast guard vessel Ann Harvey, a Cormorant helicopter and a Hercules aircraft. >click to read< 14:24

One man still missing, search and rescue efforts continue – The bodies of Ed Norman, 67, his son Scott, 35, and his nephew Jody, 42, have been recovered off the province’s south coast following a marine accident that occurred after the men, along with an Isaac Kettle left the Burin Peninsula community’s harbour at 12:30 a.m. Monday. Kettle, thought to be in his early 30s, is still missing and search and rescue efforts to locate him are continuing. >click to read< 14:29

UPDATED- Search Underway. Breaking: 1 body found, 3 still missing in search for commercial fishermen near St. Lawrence

The Canadian Coast Guard has recovered the body of a fisherman off the coast of St. Lawrence, and crews are still searching for three other missing men. The four men went missing in the mouth of Placentia Bay, after leaving from St. Lawrence shortly after midnight to fish crab, and were due back before 8 p.m. Monday evening, but did not arrive. “We found some debris in the water, and obviously the crew member, so we know whatever happened is tragic and probably happened quickly,” said Mark Gould, the regional supervisor at the Maritime Rescue Sub Centre in St. John’s. “But, y’know, we’re still searching. We’ll search until we’ve exhausted all measures and possibilities.” >click to read< 09:58

Three others still missing, search and rescue efforts underway  – “We’re in complete shock,” St. Lawrence’s assistant town clerk Eileen Norman,,, Her brother-in-law, Ed Norman, 67, went out in a 36-foot fishing boat with his son, Scott Norman, 35, and nephew, Jody Norman, 42. The other man, Isaac Kettle, is a friend in his early 30s, she said. >click to read<

Race is on to get East Coast crab boats on the water before right whales return

The Canadian Coast Guard committed Tuesday to doing all it can to help East Coast crab fishermen get on the water before the right whales arrive in the area. “What we’re trying to do now is assist the fishermen to get out as soon as they can by opening the harbours as soon as we can,”Carter Hutt, president pf the Prince Edward Island Snowcrab Association said in a phone interview that it is best if all fishermen get to go fishing at the same time, so that the fish plants have enough product to reach peak production,, >click to read< 10:25

Seal attack on Nova Scotia island leaves a hunter left defenseless by fishery officers, with 26 stitches

Alexis Boudreault, 29, and nine other hunters were on Pictou Island Tuesday when the attack occurred. Only four of them were carrying hakapiks — clubs tipped with sharp hooks — after federal fisheries officers confiscated the tools from the others earlier in the day because their hooks were judged to be too long. Boudreault, therefore, was defenseless when the 225-kilogram male seal charged. >click to read< 14:21

Eskasoni lobster fisherman ‘saddened’ after boat vandalized

Sceven (Seki) Anthony Bernard said he and other crew members of the April and Brothers found the 10-metre vessel underwater on Boxing Day. “I started noticing that the boat was sabotaged,” Bernard said in a phone interview Saturday, adding that he spotted lines that had been untied or cut. A crane arrived the next day to hoist the boat from the water. Bernard said RCMP, the Canadian Coast Guard and DFO were also on scene. >click to read< 07:25

U.S., Canadian coast guards rely on each other to save lives

Snowy, dark and difficult to see from a few hundred feet in the air — U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue pilot Lieutenant Aaron Jones recalls responding to three medical emergencies on Pelee Island, in southwestern Ontario, in the span of a month. In those cases, the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Detroit was best suited to respond, highlighting the importance of the relationship between both countries’ coast guards. >click to read< 09:28

Canada’s cocaine cowboys: How a two-year RCMP sting led all the way to Mexican kingpin El Chapo

It was March 12, 2015, and Stephen Tello was having second thoughts. The following day he was due to meet a man called Joe at a steakhouse in Toronto. Joe was a transportation broker who, for the right price, had told Tello he could smuggle huge amounts of cocaine into Canada. He could have drugs collected at sea in the Caribbean, he said, before swapping them onto fishing trawlers closer to Newfoundland, for safe passage to harbour. The two had met before, but their first deal hadn’t worked out. Now Tello, who lived a double life as a Toronto real estate,,, >click to read< 11:56

Sea Trials Begins for the Second Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel for the Canadian Coast Guard

The future Capt. Jacques Cartier, the second of three Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (OFSV) to be designed and built by Seaspan at its Vancouver Shipyards (VSY), began sea trials today as scheduled from Seaspan’s Vancouver Drydock where final outfitting, set to work and commissioning has taken place since her launch at VSY in June. >click to read< 10:07

International shipping industry under increased scrutiny as whale death toll grows

The shipping industry is under increased scrutiny after two cargo ships were fined for sailing too fast through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the rising death toll among endangered North Atlantic right whales has been partly blamed on collisions with vessels. There have been eight deaths reported since early June, and examinations of five of the carcasses showed three of them had injuries consistent with ship strikes, a leading cause of death for these rare mammals. 227 vessels exceeded speed limit in 3 months >click to read< 11:23

50 boats, coast guard, searching for man overboard off P.E.I. North Shore

The Canadian Coast Guard, local fishermen, firefighters and police are searching off the North Shore of eastern P.E.I. for a fisherman who went overboard. Maj. Mark Norris, officer in charge of the Joint Rescue Centre in Halifax, said the call came in just before 5:30 a.m. about a man in his early 20s who went into the water near Naufrage. “There were quite a quite a few local vessels in the area at that point. There was about 40 vessels in the vicinity that commenced searching almost immediately,” said Norris. >click to read<09:45