LAPUSH — Coast Guard rescue crews have called off the search for a commercial fisherman missing after the fishing boat Maverick sank off LaPush Friday morning, a Coast Guard spokesman said Saturday.
A helicopter based at Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles on Ediz Hook conducted the last search for the missing man, identified as 32-year-old Kelly Dickerson, on Saturday, said Petty Officer Nathan Bradshaw, Coast Guard spokesman in Seattle.
Based on the circumstances of the sinking and the amount of time the man has been in the water, Coast Guard officials are considering Dickerson deceased, Bradshaw said.
His father, 66-year-old Darby Dickerson of Port Angeles — the owner of the Maverick — survived, along with fellow crew members Dennis Vendor and Will Oorstaga.
The 40-foot commercial fishing vessel sank after a 4:30 a.m. collision with the 90-foot fishing vessel Viking Storm in calm seas but a heavy fog roughly 30 miles off LaPush, Bradshaw said.
The crew aboard the 90-foot vessel was able to rescue three of the four crewmen on the Maverick.
A Coast Guard motor lifeboat transferred the survivors, all described as being in good condition, from a Coast Guard cutter at the scene of the collision to the Coast Guard slip at the Quileute Harbor Marina in LaPush, Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw said the Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the collision.
Rescued crew members were welcomed with warm embraces from a gathered crowd of people when they were dropped off at Quileute Harbor Marina at about 4 p.m. Friday, said Gene Harrison, assistant harbor master at the marina.
“I just stopped [the elder Dickerson] in his tracks and gave him a hug,” Harrison said.
Harrison said one of the survivors, Vendor, is his brother-in-law.
Harrison said the elder Dickerson has fished out of Quileute Harbor for years.
Harrison was not familiar with the crew of the Viking Storm.
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
