There is memorial service for Phil Ruhle Sr. is set for Monday morning at Calvary United Methodist Church. His boat, the 80-foot Sea Breeze of Newport, was carrying 100,000 pounds of fish when it capsized and sank about 45 miles east of Atlantic City late Wednesday. It is said that the two crew members were rescued after they spent hours in the water. The captain was last seen in the boat’s wheelhouse as it sank. The Coast Guard suspended the search for him Friday.
According to Gov. Don Carcieri, who appointed Ruhle to the New England Fisheries Management Council, called his loss a tragic reminder of the dangers fishermen face. He also said that Ruhle was known on the national level. He touched a lot of people. James Lovgren, a captain with the Fisherman’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., a longtime friend of Ruhl’, told that he devoted his whole life to making fisheries work.
After the incident the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast has detailed the future uses for the Eliminator, a selective fishing trawl net that Ruhle helped researchers design and test at sea. With its new design, the Eliminator allows fishermen to capture more plentiful haddock, while sparing cod to help rebuild New England’s depleted stock of that fishery.
