US GLOBEC - Picture Gallery

| ## US GLOBEC to the Rescue of Three Canadian Fishermen by:Lisa Cugini / Coordinator, Public and Community Relations, URI 22 October, 1999 - Reprinted with permission R/V Endeavor (URI / GSO photo) A US oceanographic research vessel owned by the University of Rhode Island - the R/V Endeavor - was involved in the rescue of three Canadian fishermen stranded in life rafts just on the Canadian side of the Hague Line (the US - Canadian border) in the Gulf of Maine. The fishermen had abandoned ship when their fishing boat, the Double Dolphin, rolled over early on the morning of October 21st. Canadian and US Coast Guard aircraft sighted the rafts after picking up signals from the fishing boat's Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB). The aircraft guided the R/V Endeavor to the location of the rafts, and the fishermen were recovered. A Canadian rescue helicopter lowered medical personnel to the ship where they checked the condition of the fishermen. Receiving a clean bill of health, the fishermen were fed and allowed to shower before being transfered to the Canadian Coast Guard cutter Clark Harbor. "The US GLOBEC Program was always intended to help fisherman in their struggle to make a living from the sea; however, I must admit that we never anticipated helping them so directly ...." -- Dr. C. Greene / Cornell The R/V Endeavor was conducting high-frequency acoustic plankton surveys in the Gulf of Maine when the distress call was received. Oceanographers from Cornell University, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Louisiana State University and the University of Rhode Island were participating on the research cruise as part of the US Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) Program funded [jointly] by the NSF and NOAA. As the penultimate research cruise of the 5-year GLOBEC field study in the Georges Bank / Gulf of Maine region, the oceanographers were glad to be in the right place at the right time. Chief scientist Chuck Greene of Cornell University commented after the rescue [that] "the US GLOBEC Program was always intended to help fisherman in their struggle to make a living from the sea; however, I must admit that we never anticipated helping them so directly." Last updated: 25 October, 1999 Please address any comments, suggestions or questions to: GLOBEC Webmaster