In the early hours of last Wednesday, the owner of the F/V Eleanor S, fell overboard.

The man, now identified as the owner of the vessel, 63-year-old Richard Boyce was attempting to free fishing gear that had fouled the vessel’s propeller when he tripped and went over the side.

The F/V Eleanor S is a 38.5 commercial fishing vessel out of Haines, Alaska. State records show that the vessel belonged to Boyce.

The incident occured approximately 25 miles north of Juneau near Mab Island.

The U.S. Coast Guard was notified of the missing crew-member at about 5:05 am Wednesday. The Coast Guard launched a 25-foot response boat to the area. A MH-60 Jayhawk was also dispatched to the scene. The search for the crew-member, who was wearing green raingear was unsuccessful.

The Coast Guard put out an alert for vessels to be on the lookout for the missing person to boats in the area. Several Good Samaritan vessels aided in the search that covered 60 square miles of water.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced the decision to suspend the search for the missing fisherman this morning.

“Making the decision to suspend the search for anyone is one of the most difficult decisions we have to make and our deepest condolences go out to the family,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Jeremy Dawkins, operations unit controller with the Sector Juneau command center. “We also thank the good Samaritans who participated in the search.”