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Coast Guard suspends search for missing fisherman in Southwest Washington, wreckage found

WILLAPA BAY, Wash. — Authorities on Sunday said they have suspended their search for a missing fisherman in Southwest Washington's Willapa Bay and are working to clean up and identify the wreckage of a boat that may have been his.

Ali Flockerzi, Petty Officer Second Class for the Coast Guard, said the department hadn't found the man despite searching since Saturday afternoon. But they did find a "sheen and debris field" in the bay "in an area where his crab pots are," she said.

The Coast Guard and local officials are switching to "vessel salvage" and "fuel recovery" for diesel pollution, Flockerzi said.

The fisherman was reported missing by his wife Saturday after he was late returning from a trip in his 43-foot fishing vessel named Kelli Jay, according to the Coast Guard. Flockerzi said the Coast Guard was told the man is "very strict about the time that he goes out and comes back in," and that his wife called for help when he didn't return around noon Saturday.

Flockerzi said the Coast Guard had not confirmed if the debris was from the Kelli Jay. But she said the agency plans to send dive teams to help identify the boat.

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"At this point our concentration is on determining if the vessel is his," Flockerzi said.

The state's Department of Ecology said on Twitter they are responding to the wreckage in an effort to stop the release of fuel into the bay and track the boat. The Kelli Jay has a "pollution potential of 500 gallons of diesel," according to the Coast Guard's Twitter account.

Dave Bennett, a spokesman for Ecology, said the department is hoping to prevent debris from washing up on local beaches and the fuel from harming oyster beds.

"Willapa Bay is an oyster growing area and one of our concerns, among all of them, is the oyster farmers there," he said in a phone interview.

Click here to read the full story on the Tacoma News Tribune.