Tag Archives: Mark Cormier Jr.

For commercial fishermen, November is the cruelest month

November trips can be treacherous, and the forecast was unnerving, 9-foot swells in the afternoon and gusts as strong as 40 miles per hour. But the 56-foot F/V Leonardo, its diesel engines groaning after a series of repairs, steamed out to fishing grounds 24 miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard. It would not return, and three fishermen, Mark Cormier Jr., Gerald Bretal, and his step-son Xavier Vega, were never found. Ernesto Garcia, the lone survivor, was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter crew at dusk, about two hours after the ship capsized. >click to read< 07:33

Fishing Boat Sinks 24 off Vineyard – November 24, 2019. The fishing boat F/V Leonardo out of New Bedford sank Sunday afternoon 24 miles southwest of the Vineyard.  The U.S. Coast Guard rescued one mariner from the vessel. A search and rescue operation is underway for three others. Sector Southeast New England received an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) signal at 3:18 pm, F/V Leonard, >click for 10 posts<

Opinion: The high price of our food

The deaths of three fishermen in the sinking of the scalloper F/V Leonardo out of New Bedford this week reminds us that not all fish come from “farms” in an industry where injury and deaths are no strangers.,, Take a walk past the Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial and read tablets listing thousands of names  In New Bedford, the names of Mark Cormier Jr., 35, Jerry Bretal, 51, and his stepson Xavier Vega, 29, have been added to the grim roll in a city that has mourned often over the last three centuries. >click to read< 18:44