Searchers have failed to find two missing Greymouth fisherman who disappeared off the Fiordland coast yesterday.
The skipper of the vessel, the Governor, 60-year-old Kevin Cosgrove of Dobson, and crewman, 16-year-old Nirvana Drew Reynolds, of Blackball, were last seen yesterday about 11.30am.
They had told another boat about their fishing net becoming snagged north of the Milford South mouth, near Yates Point.
Senior Sergeant Cynthia Fairley said an empty life raft and life ring had been found, which made the prospect of finding the pair alive, grim.
About 3pm today a Search and Rescue team in the Southern Lakes Helicopter found a debris trail in the tide line about 36km south west of Yates Point.
A plane searched from Poison Bay to Yates Point but failed to find anything of significance, she said.
The fishing vessel Amazon is currently working through the debris to see if it contained anything of interest.
"At this stage they have come across fish bins and pieces of wood," Ms Fairley said.
Ms Fairley said the search would be scaled back tomorrow to a limited area.
Teams from Invercargill and Te Anau were coordinating the search and rescue operation and they would decide on whether to use the police dive squad to look for wreckage, which could be 40 metres deep.
Ms Fairley said they would need to consider the location, depth, tidal movements and the weather.
"Our thoughts are with the families of the missing men at this tragic time," she said.
