Lark Harbour mourns loss nd of two lobster fishermen
Herring seiner came across overturned boat and made call for help
LARK HARBOUR — The first day of the lobster season was a tragic one on the west coast when two men from Lark Harbour lost their lives.
The men were setting their lobster traps in the Port au Port area when their boat capsized. Four other people were rescued by helicopter from a beach near the scene.
Sam Anderson, skipper/ owner of the Nancy Jillian herring seiner, was first on the scene and made the distress call.
Anderson told The Telegram that he and his crew of eight left Corner Brook at 6 a.m. on Sunday in search of herring. They were a few hours out and going into the Port au Port area when they saw smoke coming from the beach and went over to investigate.
“Someone had lit a cabin on fire and there were guys on the beach,” Anderson said.
The area is quite shallow and rocky, and the seiner couldn’t get in very close.
“Not close enough to talk to them,” he said.
“They were jumping up and down and they had a blue flag and started waving up the beach.”
“We tried to get in there, but it was too shallow for us in a big boat like that to get anywhere near. Even in our little auxiliary boat we couldn’t get close to it,” he said.
Anderson moved his boat in the direction they were indicating and about a quarter of a mile from where the cabin fire was, he came across the overturned dory.
CALL FOR HELP
Anderson got on the radio right away and called the Canadian Coast Guard in Port aux Basques. The Coast Guard contacted the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.
Anderson gave them information about the area, including how difficult it is to reach by sea, and a Cormorant helicopter was dispatched from Canadian Forces Base 9 Wing Gander.
A local search and rescue vessel with a fast-rescue craft in tow was dispatched from the Coast Guard search and rescue station in Lark Harbour.
Anderson described the weather as being marginal, perhaps a little worse than what had been expected, but whatever the conditions, he said, a small boat would be in a more vulnerable position than his seiner.
The rescue vessel arrived at about 11 a.m., and Anderson said by then there were a dozen or more small lobster boats around.
Those boats were going in closer to the beach and relaying information back to the larger boats.
He said it was even too shallow and rocky for the fast-rescue craft to get into the beach. Eventually, those at sea recovered the bodies of the two deceased men from the beach.
Anderson said they didn’t want to attempt to get the other people by water and they were picked up by the helicopter.
Anderson figures those people had been assisting the two deceased fishermen with setting their traps.
It was after 2 p.m. when the rescue and recovery was completed, and sometime later the Coast Guard dismissed the civilian boats.
It’s not the first time Anderson has encountered a situation while out fishing, and he said it was hard to watch and not be able to do more to help. Because of some close situations, he’s invested in medical supplies for his boat.
“But there was no way we could get to them, unfortunately,” said Anderson.
TOWN IN MOURNING
Lark Harbour Mayor Wade Park is currently out of the province, but told The Telegram he has been in constant contact since the tragedy occurred.
“It’s devastating. It’s a shocker to our small town, for sure,” he said.
Park said everybody knows everybody, and many, including himself, are related to the two men.
“Everybody feels the hurt,” he said.
“It’s the beginning of lobster season and that’s one of the backbones of our town. The fisherpeople, they are a very, very close-knit group, basically like one big family. It’s pretty devastating,” said Park.
Lark Harbour town clerk/ manager Nicola Parker said people all through the town and neighbouring York Harbour were feeling numb.
“It’s hard to navigate at the moment,” she said.
The community hall was opened to residents on Sunday and again on Monday for anyone who felt the need to gather.
“We are in the process of making counselling services available to those that feel the need to avail of it,” said Parker.
The grief that is being felt will continue, she said, as the days go on and the details of the funeral arrangements are made known.
The town issued a statement on Monday morning extending condolences to the families of the two men and expressed thanks for the support and messages of condolence that have been received.
Later in the day it announced that a vigil would take place at the wharf in Little Port at 6 p.m. on Monday.