Coastguard vessels from across the south east were searching at low tide today for a rescue diver and a fishing boat captain believed to have gone down with his vessel.
It is now feared the capsizing of the fishing boat, Rising Sun, on Tuesday off the Wexford coast has claimed the lives of two of the people on board and the search diver.
"The search and rescue mission has now been changed to a search and recovery operation," a spokesman for the Irish Coastguard said.
A massive search operation which has been ongoing since Tuesday has failed to find the skipper, and there has been no sign of the diver since 3.25pm on Thursday.
The coastguard said during the low tide around 11am every coastguard unit across in the area was searching for the men along the coastline.
As part of the operation the lifeboats would be dispatched further out at sea and the search and rescue helicopters would also be involved.
The naval vessel the LE Orla was the only boat to remain at the scene of the wreckage of the Rising Sun last night after the rescue operation faced poor visibility and bad weather during the day.
Despite searching 80 sq miles south of the Saltee Islands and along the coast between Carnsore Point and Fethard there was no sign of the men yesterday.
One of the two men taken from the water around seven hours after the Rising Sun capsized at 3.30pm on Tuesday, Jimmy Meyler, was buried in Ballyhack Cemetery, Ramsgrange in Wexford.
The sole survivor of the Rising Sun tragedy, Ian Tierney, 26, attended the funeral yesterday. A full investigation has been launched by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board into how the 26-foot Rising Sun went down in 52m of water at 3.30pm on Tuesday.
It is understood the men had been taking in lobster pots on the Rising Sun near Carnsore Point when it went down.
One of two civilian divers, Billy O'Connor, failed to return from a dive to look for the body of the skipper of the capsized vessel, Patrick Colfer, 37, from Slade, on Thursday.