Fisherman missing
as boat runs aground
with fish in tow
U.S. Coast Guard and Honolulu Fire Department officials were searching for a fisherman whose beached 25-foot boat was found running on a North Shore golf course last night.
Coast Guard officials were contacted at about 9 p.m. after a Turtle Bay Resort security guard found a recreational fishing boat beached near the 16th and 17th holes of the resort's Arnold Palmer Golf Course. Coast Guard officials said the boat was unmanned, the engine was still running and a marlin that the fisherman had caught was still tied behind the boat.
The vessel matched the description of a boat that rescuers were seeking. The boat belongs to Richard Shiroma, an Oahu resident who was reported missing to officials at 6 p.m.
Fire and Coast Guard officials said Shiroma last contacted his friend, who was on another fishing boat, about 2 p.m. yesterday and said he had caught a marlin that was too big to fit on the boat. He told the friend that he would drag the fish behind his boat and meet with him at Buoy LL, off Hauula between Kahuku and Laie points.
But Shiroma never showed up at the meeting place, so his friend contacted the Coast Guard, which then started a search by helicopter and the cutter Kiska. There was still no sign of Shiroma late last night.