Chief William Saulis Families Fund
Charles "Hot Dog" Roberts, Leonard "Layback Lenny" Gabriel, Aaron Cogswell, Eugene "Geno" Francis, Dan Forbes, Mike Drake. These six men were tragically lost while returning to port from a trip fishing for scallops aboard the Chief William Saulis on the morning of December 15th 2020. Only Mike Drake's body has been recovered.
UPDATE: In the days following the loss of the vessel and its crew the interim trustees entered into an agreement with the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army in Yarmouth was authorized to meet any immediate needs of spouses or dependents of the deceased fishermen in the lead up to Christmas. Under this agreement the Salvation Army would be reimbursed by funds from the Trust. With the recent announcement from the RCMP that they have concluded their search activities, the interim trustees wanted to provide an update on the administration of the Trust going forward. We are in discussions with the family representatives that were provided by the RCMP to plan the next steps for the Chief William Saulis Benevolent Fund Trust and how we can best support the spouses and dependents of each family.
After a tremendous outpouring of support and offers of donations for the families of the lost fishermen. We are extremely grateful for this generosity and in order to properly manage this process, the Full Bay Scallop Association and Yarmouth Sea Products have opened an account to help collect the funds supported by the Hood Fraser d’Entremont law firm. The disbursement of these funds will then be managed by a recognized charitable organization.
The tragic loss of these men has been a crushing blow to members of the industry and the community at large during an already especially brutal 2020 for Nova Scotia.
While we remain hopeful that the fishermen will be found, we keep the families of those lost in our thoughts. Thank you for your consideration.
Nova Scotia town famous for its seafood still reeling from the loss of six fishermen
Fund established for families of missing Nova Scotia scallop fishermen
Searchers find body of crew member from scallop boat missing in Bay of Fundy
RCMP suspend search for Chief William Saulis fishermen due to impending storm
Search For Missing Fishermen Continues RCMP
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The Full Bay Scallop Association represents the majority of license and quota holders in the Bay of Fundy inshore scallop fishery, our membership includes Nova Scotia and New Brunswick license holders and multiple First Nation communities around the Maritimes.
Yarmouth Sea Products is a fishing company with offices in Yarmouth and Meteghan, Nova Scotia. Yarmouth Sea Products owns and operates a number of vessels in various fisheries around Atlantic Canada.