Catch of the Day: Fishing Boat

MOOLOOLABA, AUSTRALIA—Fisherman aboard a trawler off the coast of Australia were in for a disappointing surprise as they pulled up a heavier than usual net. The crew aboard the trawling fishing vessel were about 20 nautical miles off Mooloolaba in Queensland when the heavy net proved not to be a great deal of fish but a fishing boat. The details of the incident were posted on the Coast Guard Mooloolaba QF6 Facebook page on Nov. 27.

“You’re the trawler skipper and the net feels heavy,” the Coast Guard Mooloolaba QF6 wrote in the post. “This is going to be a good haul. Well, it was—just not what he was expecting.”

As it turns out, the fishing boat the crew pulled up belonged to two fishermen who radio the Coast Guard on Aug. 23 reporting they were sinking.

“Remember in August when we rescued the two fishermen whose boat sank 20 nautical miles off Mooloolaba? Bet they thought they’d never see it again,” the Coast Guard continued in the Facebook post. “Well, not until the trawler’s catch of the day was their boat. Hauled up, re-floated and brought back to Mooloolaba, it now sits a bit the worse for wear at the Water Police pontoon. What are the odds of that happening?”

A rescue crew was able to respond and locate the two men who were aboard the sinking vessel on Aug. 23. The Coast Guard reported on Facebook the men were found wearing lifejackets and clinging to an ice chest. Their boat was not so lucky, it sunk to the ocean floor, where it remained until a trawler came along and snatched it up. The Coast Guard did not say what caused the fishing boat to sink in the first place.

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