Sixty-six fishermen in Wisconsin were arrested and then rescued from ice floes on Lake Michigan on Thursday, officials said.
Ice fishermen were stranded on Thursday morning near the mouth of Sturgeon Bay, which opens onto Green Bay, the Coast Guard said. There were no injuries and all were rescued within four hours.
Commander Bryan Swintek, search and rescue coordinator for the Lake Michigan Coast Guard Sector, said the training and close relationship between the agencies led to Thursday’s success. Photos released by the Guard show the rescue effort, which included helicopters.
The Door County Sheriff’s Office said fishermen were trapped in Green Bay “due to pressure cracks that opened up between their location and the coast.”
They were in three different locations. The rescue was completed shortly before what the sheriff’s office described as a major winter storm hitting the area.
At around 9 pm on Thursday, the city of Green Bay recorded more than 15 centimeters of snow, according to the National Weather Service, and some places in the interior saw more than 23 centimeters.
The authorities emphasized that anyone who goes to the ice should check the weather, have a reliable means of communication and dress for the water temperature instead of the air temperature.
Great Lakes fishermen have been trapped on ice before, including 134 who were rescued from Lake Erie after a crack opened in 2009.
In 2019, the Coast Guard and other agencies rescued 46 ice fishermen, also on Lake Erie, off the coast of Ohio, and about 100 were able to “rescue themselves,” officials said at the time.
“When venturing on the ice, no ice is 100% safe,” said the Door County sheriff’s office in a statement after Thursday’s rescue in Wisconsin.
