Coast Guard Aircrew Hoists Injured Fisherman From Crabbing Vessel Near Crescent City
Stock image of a Coast Guard helicopter off the North Coast [Photo provided by Garth Epling]
A 35-year-old male fisherman was injured early this morning while working aboard a crabbing vessel offshore and required a Coast Guard medical evacuation, according to the United States Coast Guard.
The fisherman was struck in the left eye by a buoy hook, prompting the emergency call for assistance, according to Coast Guard Public Affairs Petty Officer Roberto Nieves and scanner traffic.
An aircrew from the Coast Guard’s Humboldt Bay unit departed their air station at approximately 8:09 a.m. and located the crabbing vessel approximately two nautical miles south of Crescent City. The injured fisherman was hoisted from the vessel into the aircraft.
Screenshot of flight data from Flightaware.com
The aircraft returned to the Coast Guard air base, landing at approximately 9:24 a.m., where the man was transferred to an awaiting ambulance. Nieves said fog conditions prevented the helicopter from landing at St. Joseph Hospital.
No additional information on the fisherman’s condition was immediately available.
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Bravo Coast Guard!
Bless the “coasties”
And prayers for the fishermen. A dangerous job.
CG does it again.
OOOUUUCHHH!!!! I can only imagine what a buoy hook is. It sounds big and painful. My sympathies to the injured.
Thank you Coast Guard. It looks like retrieving the fisherman in those seas would’ve been a tough catch. Maybe you’ll get a crab 🦀 dinner soon.
It’s a bamboo stick with a bent piece of 1/4 inch stainless stock affixed to the end for hooking the line below the buoy. I would guess he was hit in the eye by the butt end of the stick. Not that likely that the hook end was involved, but could be.
Who knows. There are a few scenarios where it could be either end. Yikes.
Bug on a Windshield, here’s a video. At about 6:53 you can see the long pole with the thin hook. Blink and you miss it, you can see how it’s used to grab the line with the buoy hook used to grab the line which is then put into the block to bring the pot up.
At 8:00 there’s an even better shot.
Not our boat, not my people. Really nice day for crabbing though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86gKIUdcVw
Grapnel hook.
Conventional crab goat, mounted on a hand pole. Usually with a single grapnel.
Bigger boats, with different gear, have a free grapnel with 3 or 4 hooks.
Has a rope in the end. They toss it over the line, bring the grapnel in, hooks the line and brings it to the boat.
Suppose, it could have been a ‘bait hook’ though.
Often they have a sharp point on the end that goes through a fish carcass.
Made of stainless steel. Has a ‘spring’ to it where it hooks to itself.
Have seen seen some minor accidents with those. .
(Photo of a bait hook)
Either one contacting the eye… oh boy.
Grapnel hook on a pole.
Free Grapnel Hook.
This was a commercial vessel, not a bamboo stick, it a large metal hook on a rope that is thrown by hand.
It says it’s a stock photo.
A HUGE THANK YOU to the brave men and women of the Humboldt Bay Coast Guard. It sounds like the fisherman received a nasty injury from the buoy hook. I pray that he does not lose his eye.
Coasties are So Awesome!! Best wishes for a full recovery to the fisherman!
A buoy stick to the eye is a common accident on a crab boat. Unfortunately this one was most severe.Prayers for a speedy recovery and thanks to the Coast Guard. We have a saying on my boat when stuff isn’t working out….
”It beats a poke in the eye with a buoy stick”
God Bless our men and women in the USCG
Way to go CG. The rescuers of so many! Reading the comments, this may be the first time I haven’t witnessed someone saying that the victim should have to pay for the CG service. We are all getting more educumated.