Help Needed For Family Of Fisherman Lost At Sea

BAYVILLE, NJ - Commercial fisherman Paul Alexandre Matos was only 30 when his 46-foot boat the Queen Anne's Revenge's went down in the early morning hours on Thursday.

He and his crew member, Dennis Smalling, sent an emergency alert out at 1:20 a.m. That was the last time anyone had contact with either of them.

Coast Guard first responders searched 4,441 square-miles by sea and air for the two men over the past two day, but found no trace of either man. The boat's emergency signal first indicated the boat was about 40 miles off the coast of Barnegat.

Weather conditions were rough when the boat was last heard from, with 10-foot seas, roughly 25 mile per hour winds and an ocean water temperature of 46 degrees, Coast Guard Capt. Scott Anderson said in a prepared release late on Friday.

Paul's girlfriend Amy Romano and their little daughter Stella are now on their own.

And Amy's friend Lauren Ashley is hoping that people will chip in and contribute to a gofundme account for a memorial account and help Amy and Stella.

"Any money raised would help towards whatever type of memorial the family would throw, plus it would take some stress off of Amy in this extremely hard time," Ashley wrote on the gofundme page for them.

If you would like to donate, please click here.

As of late Saturday night, $5,500 of the $30,000 goal had been raised by 63 people in one day.

Photo: Gofundme, promotional partner of Patch.