On Thursday morning, about 35 fishermen took part in a Safety and Survival Training program, a two-day free course that walked commercial fishermen through live saving skills, including plunging into the frigid ocean in thick neoprene survival suits.
Coast Guard crews were kept hopping this weekend, responding to two distress calls from pleasure boats off Martha's Vineyard.
Every morning, members of Coast Guard Station Menemsha head down to the West Dock, past the old fishing shacks on Basin Road, to begin their day’s work. The station’s 23 members hail from all over the country.
Coast Guard members from around the region gathered in Menemsha Thursday morning to inaugurate the Island’s first volunteer flotilla in 35 years. Timothy Carroll is the commander of the 18-member volunteer flotilla 11-9.
A team from Coast Guard Station Menemsha helped free a leatherback turtle entangled in fishing gear south of the Vineyard early Friday morning.
A U.S. Coast Guard investigation into the sinking of a the fishing boat Robert C. Monday afternoon off Dogfish Bar at the western end of the Vineyard, remains open and active, according to a Coast Guard spokesman The owner of the sunken vessel reportedly has decided not to salvage the 33-foot wooden boat, which went down in 40 to 50 feet of water after colliding with another fishing boat.