Authorities recovered a body Friday afternoon after searching for a commercial crab fisherman reported overboard near the southern end of Bodega Bay.
The search was launched after the young skipper’s boat was found adrift, with no one inside, local fishermen said.
Coast Guard officials confirmed a search and rescue operation began about 9:15 a.m. Friday by Elephant Rock, near Tomales Point within Point Reyes National Seashore. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office helicopter participated in the operation.
“We took a missing persons report this morning. We had Henry 1 and our boating unit searching for the missing boater,” said Sgt. Juan Valencia, spokesman for the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.
The man’s identity has yet to be released pending notification of family. The Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation into the death.
The Coast Guard assisted the Sheriff’s Office search and in turn called on others on the water to help locate the missing crabber.
“The local fishing community helped out with the search plan of it, passing information about last communication with (the missing captain) at 9 p.m. last night,” a Coast Guard spokesperson said. “However, they did not suspect anything wrong until the report of the adrift vessel.”
Ron Keith first learned of the situation while whale watching with his 13-year-old son, Kaden. He said he heard through radio chatter a boat was adrift near Elephant Rock with no one on board about 10 minutes before the official pan-pan, a distress alert sent by the Coast Guard.
“We went by there and circled the boat a few times and honked the horn” before the Coast Guard arrived, Keith said. “He still had his running lights on.”
Keith also recalled a crab trap in the water had still been hooked to the boat’s winch.
Upon arriving in the area, Coast Guard officers found the boat’s engine still running.
“We suspected the captain fell off the vessel at some point,” the spokesperson said.
Aircraft from the San Francisco Coast Guard station located the person in the water about 1 mile from the boat. Crew on a Coast Guard boat recovered him from the water and “discovered obvious signs of death,” according to the spokesperson.
Bodega Bay Fire Protection District paramedics pronounced the person deceased at the dock.
Members of the fishing community said the man was known to fish alone, despite pleas from his friends not to do so, said Dick Ogg, a well-known veteran fisherman.
“One mistake, and you’re dead,” Ogg said, describing the man as a very close friend. “We deal with this every day. It’s just horrible.”
Local fishermen also said the boat was allowed to run ashore despite having people in the vicinity willing to tow it and Coast Guard personnel onshore, at one point.
The vessel eventually grounded on Kehoe Beach, at the Point Reyes National Seashore, a hard-to-reach spot where it’s likely to break up, littering the ocean and preventing the family of the fisherman from selling it or any of the crab on board, Ogg said.
An official with the Coast Guard responded that the station’s single boat crew had located the body before they were able to begin towing the vessel to safe harbor.
“We determined that the victim was to be taken back to (emergency medical services) rather than tow the vessel,” the official said.
“We cannot task commercial fisherman with towing. Nor were we aware of anyone on scene with the capability to tow the vessel. We did not intervene with any civilian attempts to tow the vessel.”
By the time the boat crew was available to return and tow the vessel, the winds had picked up, according to the official.
"The adrift vessel was rapidly drifting towards the shore and we were not able to bring the vessel in tow,“ the official said.
Marco Galazzo, general manager of the Tides Wharf and Restaurant in the small community of Bodega Bay, confirmed he also heard a man had gone overboard. He shared he was shaken and was anxiously awaiting further information.
You can reach Staff Writer Emily Wilder at 707-521-5337 or emily.wilder@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @vv1lder.
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