UPDATE | Coast Guard calls off search for missing fisherman

Published 3:47 pm Tuesday, October 27, 2015

The Coast Guard has stopped searching for a missing Bainbridge Island man who disappeared while he was boating Monday in Rich Passage near Bainbridge Island.

The search, which began Monday night, was called off at 1:43 p.m. Tuesday.

The Coast Guard began looking for the man after his wife called Bainbridge police and reported him missing.

His 15-foot boat was later found adrift in Rich Passage, and authorities found a fishing pole and open tackle box aboard the vessel. The man reportedly was not wearing a life jacket.

“The decision to suspend a search is never an easy one to make and is done with great care and deliberation,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Darkeim Brown, the search-and-rescue mission controller at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound. “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the missing man.”

Authorities said the missing man is 54, but have not released his name.

The Coast Guard said earlier that the wife of the missing man said her husband’s truck and boat trailer had been found at the boat launch at the Port Orchard Marina.

Officials said crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Wahoo, an 87-foot Coastal Patrol Boat homeported in Port Angeles, as well as an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Port Angeles, two 45-foot response boats from the Coast Guard’s Station Seattle and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Astoria, Oregon, searched move than 400 miles for a combined 28 hours.