Joel Kawahara’s fishing boat, the Karolee, traveled down the coast from Washington towards California waters, retaining a gradual course that provided no trace that one thing had gone terribly mistaken.
However when Coast Guard crews boarded the boat final week in Northern California, officers discovered nobody on board. Its captain was nowhere to be seen. Someplace alongside the roughly 400-mile trek, the 70-year-old Kawahara was misplaced.
“It’s a wierd case,” mentioned U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier. “There have been no indicators of misery, no indicators of particles.”
On the Karolee, the fishing gear was arrange on the deck. A half-drunk cup of espresso was discovered sitting on the helm, and Kawahara’s oatmeal was left unfinished, as if the skilled fisherman out of the blue disappeared in the course of breakfast, mentioned Heather Burns, a longtime buddy.
His life jacket, she mentioned, was discovered hanging within the boat.
Kawahara’s associates suspect “a freak prevalence” might have tossed him overboard someplace out at sea.
The Karolee is towed by a U.S. Coast Guard crew from Station Humboldt Bay into Eureka on Aug. 14, after it was found that the proprietor of the boat was lacking.
(Steven Strohmaier / U.S. Coast Guard Northwest District)
Born in Seattle, Kawahara was an expert fisherman who centered on salmon, albacore tuna and halibut. However associates and colleagues mentioned Kawahara was a passionate advocate for fish and conservancy, combating to take care of secure and wholesome habitats for fish.
“He wasn’t there for anyone however the fish,” Burns mentioned. “To him, all the things tied again to salmon.”
Kawahara was a board member of Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, president of the Coastal Trollers Assn., and member of the Pacific Fisheries Administration Council.
Ken Kawahara, his brother, mentioned he was all the time drawn towards fishing and the ocean.
Their father owned a ship and a fishing deal with retailer in Seattle after they had been rising up, and would spend some summers going out to do industrial fishing.
One in every of three brothers, Joel appeared to discover a calling in fishing, Ken Kawahara mentioned.
“My dad bought the impression that Joel was not going to do the rest,” Kawahara mentioned. “He simply needed to bum round and fish.”
At one level, Ken Kawahara mentioned, their father offered their boat within the hope that Joel Kawahara didn’t spend all his time fishing.
His brother ultimately went to varsity, earned a level, and commenced to work for Boeing, Ken Kawahara mentioned.
However he mentioned Joel didn’t like his Boeing job, which handled army work that clashed along with his private philosophy. As quickly as he was capable of save up sufficient cash, he purchased a fishing boat. He stop his job. He returned to fishing.
“He simply needed to return to fishing,” he mentioned.
For years, family and friends mentioned, Joel Kawahara labored doing what he cherished, and earned the respect of colleagues alongside the West Coast and fishing grounds as much as Alaska. When he went lacking earlier this month, members of the industrial fishing group got here collectively, hoping to search out solutions.
On social media, associates and colleagues regarded for data on the Karolee, hoping he was nonetheless on board and one thing had simply saved him from answering calls and messages.
The Coast Guard looked for greater than 18 hours on the lookout for indicators of the lacking man, the company mentioned in a assertion, however suspended its search Aug. 13 after discovering no hint of Kawahara.
Strohmaier mentioned the Coast Guard wouldn’t be the company to analyze how Kawahara went lacking, and there’s no indication that one other legislation enforcement company is trying into the incident both.
Associates and members of the fishing group alongside the West Coast and in Alaska are mourning the lack of Kawahara, whom they described as an skilled, meticulous fisherman.
“He was one of many smartest folks I ever met,” mentioned Jeremy Brown, a fellow fisherman who knew Kawahara for 35 years. “He’s simply extremely open, energetic and intellectually curious.”
Burns, who was taking good care of Kawahara’s house and cats in Quilcene, Wash., whereas he was fishing, mentioned she knew one thing had gone awry when on Monday, Aug. 11, she was unable to get ahold of Kawahara by way of textual content or his satellite tv for pc telephone.
The 2 didn’t have an official protocol for when he went fishing alone, she mentioned, however would preserve contact each couple of days, she mentioned.
Aug. 11 marked 4 days since she had heard from her buddy, she mentioned, and when she reached out to mutual acquaintances that weekend, she mentioned, nobody had heard from him for days.
That’s when she started to fret, Burns mentioned.
Solely small clues counsel what may need occurred on board the Karolee, associates mentioned.
Kawahara had deliberate to fish for tuna close to Oregon, Brown mentioned, after which deliberate to fish for salmon.
However in line with the Coast Guard, the Karolee had maintained a continuing southerly course for a number of days, retaining at 4 knots. The boat’s computerized identification system, in line with the Coast Guard, was functioning and confirmed no indicators that something was mistaken.
Brown mentioned that regular course, nevertheless, is what alarmed associates and colleagues.
“All the pieces was constant, besides that the boat saved going and crossed the salmon grounds,” Brown mentioned, indicating he by no means stopped to fish for salmon. “He didn’t name, he didn’t radio. After we checked out the place his transponder was, he was already down in Oregon. At that time, it was apparent one thing was badly mistaken.”
Coast Guard crews made a number of makes an attempt to contact the Kawahara by way of radio calls to the Karolee and requested different ships and boats within the space to do the identical, however nobody obtained a solution, in line with the company.
On Aug. 12, a Coast Guard C-27 fixed-wing airplane crew from Sacramento made visible contact with the Karolee, noticing that it had been rigged for fishing, the lights had been on and a raft was on its cradle however officers mentioned the crew “didn’t discover any indicators of misery.”
The ship continued on its course, and the Coast Guard dispatched an MH-60 helicopter from Air Station Astoria to go looking the realm west of Grays Harbor, Wash., however made no findings.
Crews searched the boat’s path, officers mentioned, with comparable outcomes.
On the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 13, the Coast Guard boarded the boat close to Northern California and confirmed there was nobody on board. Its security tools, officers famous, was nonetheless on board.
The identical day, the Karolee was towed to Eureka, then docked in Humboldt Bay, in line with the Coast Guard.
“Our crews diligently searched lots of of miles,” mentioned Cmdr. Chelsey Stroud, search-and-rescue mission coordinator for the Coast Guard’s Northwest District. “We ship our deepest condolences to the household, associates and family members of the lacking man.”
The one clues as to what might have occurred, Burns mentioned, are the final messages Kawahara despatched to associates the morning of Friday, Aug. 8, the day associates consider he might have someway fallen overboard.
In a textual content message early that morning, Kawahara advised Burns he had woke up to a foggy morning, and he was watching a bunch of murres, black and white sea birds, fishing close to him.
“Abruptly this whale comes up and boils the water lower than 50 yards forward of me,” Kawahara texted Burns simply earlier than 7:30 a.m. “I slowed down and turned however boy it was sort of shut. The excellent news is a lot to eat for whale and birds.”
A half-hour later, he texted one other buddy noting another person was fishing close to him.
Then nothing.
One thing, Brown mentioned, should have tossed Kawahara off his boat.
Fishing alone out at sea shouldn’t be really helpful, however Brown mentioned it’s a standard apply, particularly amongst skilled fishermen.
“It should have been a very freak prevalence,” Brown mentioned.
Family and friends say they’ll maintain memorials to Kawahara in Quilcine and Seattle sooner or later.
“Folks dwell on the hazards, and sure, they’re there,” Brown mentioned, including that there are dangers in a standard, day by day automobile commute. “However in comparison with commuting on the freeway, I feel we get the higher a part of the deal.”
