Coast Guard Locates Sunken Fishing Vessel Marian Ann
U. S. Coast Guard
December 17, 2004
COAST GUARD ISLAND ALAMEDA, Calif. - December 14, 2004 the Coast Guard successfully located the F/V MARIAN ANN, which sank for unknown reasons on September 21, 2004 approximately 15 miles off the coast of Humboldt Bay, California.
The MARIAN ANN was carrying a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Automated Information System (AIS) tracking device at the time of their sinking, which stopped transmitting at 7:22 P.M. on September 21st. Using the last known position of the MARIAN ANN, the Coast Guard contacted the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Keyport, Washington for assistance in searching the ocean bottom. Using a side-scan sonar, the US Naval Ship BATTLE POINT searched roughly 20 square miles of ocean bottom over three days before locating the wreckage of the MARIAN ANN some 2,100 feet below the surface. The BATTLE POINT then deployed its Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and was able to confirm the identity of the vessel as the MARIAN ANN on the ocean floor. The three crew members were never located. The MARIAN ANN successfully completed a Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Safety Exam in July of 2004.
The loss of the F/V MARIAN ANN represented the third in a series of unknown fishing vessel sinkings off the Northern California coast during the past year. The Coast Guard is trying to determine if there is a common factor, which might help to explain recent sinkings.
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