Hopes were fading last night for two missing Aberdeenshire fishermen after a second day of searching failed to find them.
A coastguard spokesman said last night there were “no plans” to begin the search again today.
A major operation was launched on Tuesday when the Water Rail, a 16ft creel boat, failed to return to Gourdon harbour at 9.30am.
Onboard the boat were believed to be Jim Reid, thought to be in his 70s, and his grandson David Irvine, 35.
Yesterday, family members kept up a vigil at the harbour and waited to hear news of the men.
The search had resumed at 4am when lifeboat teams returned to the water after having been stood down on Tuesday night at 9.30pm.
Coastguard teams from Aberdeen and Montrose scoured the coastline along with lifeboat teams from Stonehaven and Montrose. The RAF search and rescue helicopter from Lossiemouth, a Bond helicopter which operates for BP and the Coastguard’s fixed wing Cessna 106 also joined the search yesterday.
Ruari McLachlan, assistant operations manager at Stonehaven’s RNLI lifeboat, said crews were working “back-to-back” to find the missing boat.
“There was a fresh crew going out every four hours, it was pretty intense,” he said.
“My own survey boat, which is also based at Stonehaven, has also been involved in the search.
“The support from the local fishing community has been huge in the search.
“We have five lifeboats and were initially searching a five mile stretch of coastline.
“But there were at least 15 fishing boats of all shapes and sizes assisting too.
“There has been a massive amount of help from these guys who just jumped in their boats to help.”
Mearns councillor George Carr said he had met with fishermen at Gourdon in recent weeks.
“Obviously the people of Gourdon are very anxious.
“The fact is that we just do not know and every day the search goes on it raises concerns for those that are lost.
“My thoughts are with the family, friends, colleagues and the fishing community of these men.
“I met with people from the fishing community in Gourdon recently so I know how close they are.
“I hope we get some good news soon.”