Body of missing Erris fisherman found by fishing trawler

Anton McNulty

The body of a male believed to  be that of missing Erris fisherman Daniel Doherty was discovered by chance by a fishing boat nearly 20 miles from where the 23-year-old had originally gone missing.
The body was discovered on Friday evening at approximately 5pm by a local fishing crew who were returning to Killala after a day fishing.
Mr Doherty, from Carrowteigue in north Mayo, had been missing since September 11 when he took his trawler alone to Benwee Head to re-bail lobster pots. His trawler, the Carragh Rose, drifted ashore that night without him on board sparking an extensive multi-agency search of Broadhaven Bay.
The remains were found floating in the sea, east of Downpatrick Head approximately four miles from Lacken, and was retrieved from the water by the Ballyglass lifeboat. Gardaí expect the results of the DNA testing to positively identify the body to be available this morning (Tuesday). Once the body is positively identified, the post mortem will take place in Mayo General Hospital.  
A Garda spokesperson told The Mayo News that the fishing trawler which found the body had earlier taken part in the search but was not involved that day. The spokesperson said the area where the body was recovered was ‘swept’ by the Coast Guard helicopter and they were ‘lucky’ to recover the body after a long search.
Mr Doherty had been missing for a fortnight despite the multi-agency search involving the Ballyglass lifeboat, the Coast Guard, Civil Defence, the Gardaí, up to 30 fishing boats, divers and civilian volunteers from all over Erris and Mayo.
Both Ballyglass RNLI Lifeboats, ‘Bryan & Gordon’ and ‘The Western’, were involved in the search with the voluntary lifeboat crew launching every day since the young fisherman was reported missing.
The search was co-ordinated by the Ballyglass lifeboat and volunteers met at the Community Centre in Carrowteigue every morning to await instructions. The search took place along the shoreline and covered an area of 30 nautical miles at sea. As well as the Coast Guard helicopter, civilian drones were also used in the search.
The Ballyglass Lifeboat Operations Manager, Padraic Sheeran thanked all the people who had given their time to take part in the search.

Community effort
“There was an incredible community effort involved in the search and we have seen our entire volunteer lifeboat crew take part in it along with our colleagues in the Coast Guard, the Civil Defence, the Gardaí, the Order of Malta and local diving clubs and boats. Our thoughts are very much with the family and friends of the young man at this time,” he said through the Ballyglass Lifeboat Facebook page.
Erris based councillor Rose Conway-Walsh said she was very pleased that the body of Daniel has been recovered and her thoughts and prayers are with his family and the local community. She also praised and commended the volunteers from the different agencies and the civilians who took part in the search to recover the body.
The initial response by the Navy not to join the search when requested by the Gardaí had been criticised locally before Navy divers eventually joined. Fianna FΡil TD, Dara Calleary said he would raise the matter with the Minister for Defence, Simon Coveney and feels the Navy should automatically join the search when requested by the Gardaí. He also sympathised with the family of Mr Doherty.

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