A SEARCH is due to resume at first light today for a Donegal fisherman who has been missing since a lobster boat with two on board sank off the Inishowen peninsula yesterday.
The body of Edward Doherty (65), one of the two men on board the 26ft Jennifer, has been recovered, and his vessel was located and retrieved by divers close to Glengad pier, south of Malin Head.
Mr Doherty’s nephew, Robert McLaughlin (41), was still missing last night when an air-sea and coastal search was suspended in deteriorating weather.
Malin Head marine rescue centre said the alarm was raised after 10.30am yesterday by a local fishing vessel which reported that a boat was in difficulties. Mr Doherty’s body was later retrieved from the sea.
It is believed the pair had left Portlenane pier at Glengad early yesterday to check on pots.
The weather was reported to be fine when the men cast off, but the forecast was for gale-force winds and poor visibility.
Malin Head marine rescue centre tasked the Irish Coast Guard Sligo-based Sikorsky search-and-rescue helicopter and the RNLI Lough Swilly and Portrush all-weather lifeboats.
Some 20 local vessels also responded to the alert. Heavy rain and choppy seas impeded the search.
Yesterday afternoon four divers using a remotely operated vehicle located the fibreglass vessel in 10m of water about 100 yards off the Glengad shoreline.
The divers put a rope on the vessel and raised it to the surface, towing it ashore. There were no indications that the vessel had been holed, but its gear was still on the sea bed.
Billy Farren, a cousin and neighbour of the late Mr Doherty, from Ross Head, said the entire community was devastated.
“It’s just a mystery as to what happened. Edward was a very experienced fisherman. You would not have got a safer fisherman.
“Fishing was his life. Both men were very well known and very liked in the community.”
The late Mr Doherty, whose wife Marion was being consoled at their home by the couple's six children, owned two boats, including the Jennifer. He was well known as an accomplished participant in local céilí circles.
“You just wouldn’t get a more decent man,” Mr Farren said.
He added that the most important thing now was for the rescue crews to find the body of Mr McLaughlin if, as thought, he too has drowned.
“That’s the most difficult part for Robert’s family now.
“They live on the hill overlooking the sea.”
Mr McLaughlin was a single man who lived for fishing, according to locals.
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board is expected to investigate the sinking, which is the second in just over two years in the area. In March 2008, two brothers, Francis (68) and Danny McDaid (70) from Glengad, were rescued but subsequently died in hospital. Their 10m vessel Strath Mariesank just over three miles east off Inishowen Head.
Donegal Fianna Fáil Senator Cecilia Keaveney said she knew the families of Mr Doherty and Mr McLaughlin well, and that this was “a very trying time for them”.
“Of course in time there needs to be a full investigation into what happened. But now the people of Inishowen, who are one big family, need to show their support to these two families.”
The ban on salmon driftnetting and depressed shellfish prices have forced smaller inshore vessels to fish longer into the winter and farther out to sea.
Two days ago two young Mayo fishermen were rescued from their life raft after some 12 hours at sea when their 36ft boat was swamped and sank some 15 miles north of Belderrig on Saturday.