‘We have to learn from these incidents because they’re happening to all kinds of people and we have to find out why’
A man is dead after a fishing boat capsized just offshore from Westport, a community of roughly 200 people on Newfoundland's Baie Verte Peninsula, according to a report.
The man, described as middle-aged and well known locally, was fishing for squid on Wednesday morning when his small boat overturned about a couple of hundred feet from the wharf, CBC News reported.
He was reportedly not wearing a life jacket at the time.
Westport town clerk Christine Murphy, who also serves as secretary of the local fire department, told CBC News she placed the initial 911 call after being told a speedboat had capsized near shore, sometime between 10 and 10:30 a.m. Newfoundland time.
The response
Murphy said that after relaying information to the emergency operator, she and her husband gathered first-aid equipment and headed to the water, where other fish harvesters were already searching. "When we got [to the wharf] there was ... a lot of fishermen in the water in their boats. They were just out looking," she said, according to the report.
The Department of National Defence confirmed a mayday call had been issued, prompting the deployment of three Canadian Coast Guard vessels — the CCGS Vladykov, CCGS Teleost and CCGS Conception Bay — along with a Cormorant helicopter from 103 Squadron in Gander.
The RCMP said the operation concluded around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday. The following morning, the Department of National Defence told CBC News the search and rescue operation had ended and that no further details would be released out of respect for the family.
Reaction
Murphy said the outlook shifted as the day wore on. "As the day went on, we quickly realized it was probably going to be more [of] a recovery than a rescue," she said.
Separately, Merv Wiseman, the chair of the Food Fishery Committee, has asked the authorities to launch a formal investigation into the Harbour Round sinking.
“It has to do with buoyancy and what happens with stability because with squid, if there’s movement all the weight goes into one area,” Wiseman told VOCM Open Line with Brian Callahan.
He also wants to see a full-blown inquiry into why there have been so many fishing-related tragedies.
“We have to learn from these incidents because they’re happening to all kinds of people and we have to find out why,” he said, according to the report.
