A search for two Addison fishermen off the coast of Trescott and Cutler was suspended the evening of Sunday, January 19, after rescue crews combed over 950 square miles of ocean and coastline. Efforts are now focused on recovering their bodies and their scallop dragger that have been found off Moose Cove, Trescott.
      The fishermen, Chester "Chet" Barrett and his son Aaron, were headed home to Addison on Saturday, January 18, aboard Chester's 34-foot dragger Sudden Impact after having been scalloping in Cobscook Bay -- but they never made it. They had left at 5 a.m. from Edmunds, and during the morning the Barretts had sent a text message to a friend stating that the seas were really bad and that they were trying to make it to the shelter of Cutler harbor. They were reported missing by a family member at around 5 p.m. when they failed to return as expected to South Addison.
      Since the search started on Saturday evening, the Coast Guard coordinated the effort of 11 rescue crews from five partnering agencies, including boats from Jonesport and Eastport, a Coast Guard aircraft and Canadian Coast Guard helicopter. With the suspension of the search, recovery efforts were turned over to the Maine Marine Patrol.
      "We offer our sincere condolences to the family," says Captain Matt Baker, commander of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England. "We conduct every search and rescue mission with the hope of returning missing people to safety, which is why suspending any search and rescue effort is one of the hardest decisions I make."
      On Sunday, local fishermen used sonar to detect what they believed to be the boat in about 160 feet of water off Moose Cove, and they made an initial attempt to raise the dragger late on Sunday afternoon. Their efforts were halted by the Coast Guard because of safety concerns, but they planned on trying again when the weather was better. The fishermen are from the Addison, Cutler and Bucks Harbor areas, with Dean Barrett, a nephew of Chester, organizing the efforts. The Marine Patrol has been on scene during recovery efforts to provide support.
      On Tuesday, January 21, the fishermen were able to hook onto what they believed is the boat so that divers could go down to try and retrieve the bodies. Divers were unsuccessful in getting down to the location the following day, but late that night the State Police/Marine Patrol Underwater Recovery Dive Team, assisted by the fishermen, used a remotely operated underwater vehicle with sonar and a camera to confirm the identity of the vessel as the Sudden Impact and to observe what is believed to be a body on the vessel. The fishermen were also planning to possibly haul the boat to the surface by hooking onto it with larger draggers.

Loss 'hits home'
      While scallop dragging during the season in Cobscook Bay, the Barretts had been mooring their boat off the Edmunds boat landing. On Thursday, January 16, the Maine Department of Marine Resources announced the conservation closure for the Cobscook Bay area, and the father and son were taking their boat home to Addison on Saturday, so they could fish in that area beginning Monday, January 20.
      Chris Beal, an Addison fisherman, knew the Barretts well, with Aaron fishing with him for about six years. "Both of them fished all their lives," he says, lobster and scallop fishing, clamming and picking periwinkles -- "doing what you've got to do to make a buck."
      On the day they were headed to Addison it was blowing up to 35 knots from the southwest, with a big sea, according to Beal. He notes that he was at West Quoddy Head in Lubec that morning and says, "It was bad," with the seas being eight to 10 feet high. With the wind against the tide, the waters can become rough, and the area along the Bold Coast from West Quoddy Head to Cutler offers little protection in poor weather. "There's not an island the whole way to Cross Island. There's nothing to hide behind." Although the forecast had not been good, Beal says the father and son evidently thought they could "beat the wind" in getting to Addison.
      Beal comments that they were both "hard-working, happy-go-lucky guys. Really nice guys. If there was anyone in need of help, they'd be right there. They'd be searching, too." Their loss "hits home with everybody. We all know each other." He says the Barretts were friends with "a lot of people" in the close-knit community of Addison. "Everybody knew them."
      The chance that one might not make it back when going to fish "is a risk we take every day we go out."
      "It's a rough thing to go through," he says of the loss.