Jason LaBrie, 47, of Oregon City was fishing for halibut on the 26-foot vessel Defiance II when he went overboard. When other fishermen realized that LaBrie was missing, they sent out an emergency signal, which was received by 13th District watchstanders at 12:39 p.m.
Within minutes, USCG put out a radio broadcast alerting nearby mariners and by 1:10 p.m., search and rescue crews were in the area and started to comb some 244 square miles, doing 18 searches over more than 22 hours, according to the agency.
“The decision to suspend a search is one of the most difficult decisions we have to make,” Capt. Nathan Coulter, 13th Coast Guard District, chief of incident management, said in a statement. “We offer our deepest sympathies to the family of Jason LaBrie in this difficult time.”
