Crab fisherman loses tips of his fingers in accident

An Oregon man on a crabbing boat about a half mile outside Bodega Bay severed the tips of two fingers Friday as he pulled the last crab pots onto the boat, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.

The man was in his 40s but Coast Guard officials wouldn't release his name. He was on fishing vessel Carmillo from Harbor, Ore., Petty Officer 3rd Class Levi Read reported. His boat launched out of Bodega Bay early Friday.

The man's fingertips were pinched by a pulley system called a crab block, which severed the tips of the man's two middle fingers, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Wesley Sedlacek, who is posted at Station Bodega Bay.

Fellow fishermen put out a call for help, Sedlacek said. A Coast Guard crew on a 47-foot motor life boat was training in the area.

"He was standing up when we arrived," Sedlacek said. "He did not lose consciousness."

The man's crew mates saved his fingertips on ice, Sedlacek said.

Sedlacek bandaged the man's hand and the crew took him to shore. A Bodega Bay Fire Department ambulance crew took him to Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastopol, Sedlacek said. His condition was available.