Search for missing fisherman moves into recovery phase

The search for the fisherman who went missing on Friday has entered the recovery phase, police confirm.

Ash Haigh’s boat was found empty and floating off the Gold Coast, hours after the 44-year-old experienced fisherman was due back at Runaway Bay Marina.

Police recovered the vessel about 20 nautical miles east of Burleigh Headland at 2am on Friday, February 6, and began searching the coastline for Haigh.

The search, which continued on Saturday and Sunday, involved four vessels and an aircraft and spanned Point Danger to Yamba in New South Wales.

Late on Saturday afternoon, police located an inactive Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) registered to Haigh 14 nautical miles off Ballina. No signs of life or additional items have been found, police said in a statement released Sunday afternoon.

“The search and rescue operation has now transitioned into the recovery phase, and officers continue to be in contact with the man’s family,” the statement read.

Speaking to media on Friday, Senior Sergeant Shannon Gray said the keys to the boat were not found in the ignition, but on a seat.

“I wouldn’t have thought [that’s typical], but the circumstances as to what happened in the boat are still unknown, and we may never know exactly what happened.”

“There are two boarding ladders [on the boat], one of them was down into the water.”

Gray wouldn’t speculate at the time as to what that meant.

On Sunday, Premier David Crisafulli described the incident as “a real tragedy”.

“Authorities are throwing everything at it, and someone who’s made such a big contribution to the coast, a family man, someone who was doing what he loves, you can understand why authorities are trying everything to just cling on to the glimmer of hope,” he said.

Haigh was an experienced fisherman and prominent member of the Gold Coast Game Fish Club.

Anyone with information is being encouraged to come forward.

With William Davis