Longtime Fishermen Out Of Barnegat Light Killed In Capsize: Cops

Two longtime friends who had fished out of Barnegat Light were among three fishermen killed Tuesday night after their boat capsized in a bay off Newport, Ore. Barnegat Light native Stephen Biernacki, 50, and South Toms River native James Lacey, 48, were pronounced dead, Coast Guard officials said.

Biernacki was 50, and Lacey was 48. He was found with the boat and pronounced dead there, Coast Guard officials said. Biernacki captained the Mary B II, a 42-foot wooden commercial fishing boat that targeted Dungeness crab, the National Fisherman reported.

The Coast Guard quickly found Lacey in the ocean and rushed him to Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport, where he was pronounced dead. The third passenger – Josh Porter, 50, of Toledo, Ore. – was found dead near the shore, officials said.

The Newport Fishermen's Wives organization is accepting donations for their loves ones. You can donate online or mail donations to Newport Fishermen's Wives, P.O. Box 971, Newport, OR, 97365.

Biernacki rescued a fisherman in 2007 after his boat suffered damage in a storm that stranded him off the Charleston, S.C. coast, according to the Associated Press. Biernacki saved Leland McClellan's life after Biernacki's Eaglet II was the only boat close enough to hear the distress call.

"Those boys come up real big," McClellan told the AP. "Those Jersey boys put it on the line for us."

Read more.

With reporting by Karen Wall and Colin Miner, Patch Staff

Photo of a Coast Guard ship responding to the capsizing of the Mary B II via Oregon State Police.