A Dillingham man died after a fall aboard a fishing vessel in Chignik Lagoon Thursday, in what Alaska State Troopers describe as the state's third commercial-fishing fatality on Independence Day.
A Friday AST dispatch says troopers were informed of 25-year-old Joey J. Paul's death at about 9:40 p.m. Thursday.
"Investigation determined (Paul) was working on a 38 foot fishing vessel in Chignik Lagoon when he fell into an area near the engine of the boat," troopers wrote. "Paul was retrieved from the boat and transported to the Chignik Lagoon Clinic where he was pronounced deceased."
AST spokesperson Beth Ipsen says that while it's not clear why Paul fell into the engine area, no foul play is suspected in his death.
"Basically, he fell on the shaft that turns the propeller," Ipsen said. "He fell down the engine room hole -- it's about a five-foot drop."
Ipsen says Paul is no relation to 58-year-old Harberg Paul of Kipnuk, who was killed in a fire aboard a gillnetter moored in Egegik early Thursday that also left his two brothers with burns.
In another Thursday accident aboard a fishing tender off Ninilchik, Wisconsin man Lewis Byerly, 55, died after getting caught in a motorized winch for an anchor chain.
Troopers say the state medical examiner's office has been contacted and an autopsy has been requested in the Chignik Lagoon death. Joey Paul's next of kin have been notified.
Contact Chris Klint