The Coast Guard, the Chambers County Sheriff's Office and Texas Parks and Wildlife are searching Trinity/Galveston Bay for a missing 88-year-old fisherman who launched from Smith Point at 8:30 a.m. Monday and hasn't returned.
Sheriff Hawthorne says the man is in a 16 foot aluminum sportsman trawling rig. He left Smith Point for the Anahuac channel to do some shrimping.
Weather and darkness concluded the search Monday and it resumed Tuesday.
“He’s very familiar with the water and has spent most of his life fishing and shrimping the Galveston/Trinity Bay Complex, so we are very hopeful and praying that he has mechanical problems or ran aground and we’ll find him in the morning,” said Sheriff Hawthorne
Coast Guard — The Coast Guard and partner agencies are searching for an overdue boater Tuesday near Smith Point, Texas.
The missing mariner is an 88-year-old man in a 16-foot green aluminum boat with a bimini top believed to be fishing in Galveston Bay. The boater typically fishes in Trinity Bay from Smith Point to Anahuac, Texas, or in East Bay. It is unknown if he is wearing a life jacket.
Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston watchstanders were notified by the man's wife via cell phone at 4:20 p.m. Monday that her husband had not returned from fishing.
Watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast while a Coast Guard Air Station Houston MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and a Coast Guard Station Houston 29-foot Response Boat–Small crew launched to search for the man. A Coast Guard Station Galveston 29-foot Response Boat–Small crew also launched to search East Bay.
Involved in the search are:
Coast Guard Air Station Houston
Coast Guard Station Houston
Coast Guard Station Galveston
Coast Guard Cutter Alligator
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Game Wardens
Coast Guard Chambers County Sheriff's Office
Kemah Fire Department
League City Police Department
League City Fire Department
Anyone with information that may assist search efforts should contact Sector Houston-Galveston at (281) 464-4851.