Long Beach area crabber reported missing, vessel found sunk in Willapa Bay

Search for missing man was suspended by the Coast Guard Sunday afternoon

By The Chinook Observer • May 21, 2018 7:00 pm

The search for a missing commercial crabber by the U.S. Coast Guard was suspended Sunday afternoon after the vessel the Kelli J was found submerged in Willapa Bay between Oysterville Sea Farms and Bay Center.

“All searches for mariner yielded negative results,” the Coast Guard said on its Twitter feed. “Search has been suspended and efforts are switching to vessel salvage/fuel recovery.”

Coast Guard crews responded Sunday morning to a diesel-oil sheen and debris field in Willapa Bay after searching throughout the night for the 43-foot vessel Kelli J and its local skipper, Kevin Soule, who is believed to have been pulling crab pots at the time of the accident.

Port of Peninsula Manager Jay Personius confirmed Sunday afternoon that Soule was at the helm Saturday and is thought to have been the only person on board.

Efforts to recover the vessel are complicated by swift currents in the area. Willapa Bay largely empties and refills each tide cycle, generating intense water velocities.

Soule’s wife reported him overdue after he didn’t return to port by noon Saturday, according to the Coast Guard. An air and sea search was immediately launched. The debris field and sheen were confirmed Sunday morning, according to a 10 a.m. tweet.

Soule is married to Heather Unruh Soule, manager of Long Beach KeyBank. The couple has two daughters, ages 10 and 6. The Soules are a well-known multi-generational fishing family on the bay.

The Kelli J, a fiberglass-hulled vessel built in 1977, is registered to Shoalwater Seafoods LLC of Long Beach, which is owned by Soule, according to public records.

The vessel was carrying up 500 gallons of diesel. Global Diving and Salvage has been contracted for cleanup operations, the Coast Guard said. The Washington Department of Ecology and the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office are participating in the response to the sinking. Sunday, divers were planning to try to block the vessel’s vents to keep oil from leaking out and to put a tracker on the wreck, because it’s been pushed around by the tide, the Associated Press reported.