EASTPORT, Maine — Federal officials began setting up this week to map the bottom of Cobscook Bay and parts of the Bay of Fundy to help determine whether any uncharted ledges or outcroppings are responsible for the sinking of vessels and the death of more than 16 fishermen in recent years.
The three-man crew of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s hydrographic Navigation Response Team arrived in Eastport Monday and immediately began preparations to survey the bottom of Cobscook Bay over the summer and into the fall.
NOAA’s navigation services usually are working at much larger commercial ports — some with as many as 200 ships a day moving in and out — or supporting national security.
But at Eastport, the matter truly is one of life and death.
“It is the loss of life that drew us here,” Cmdr. Lawrence T. Krepp, the team’s chief, said Tuesday.
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