KEY POINTS:
The names of the two fishermen killed over the weekend have been released.
Lost in the grounding of the San Cuvier was the skipper Rick Josephs.
The 38-year-old was an experienced skipper of longline vessels and had been working with Sanford since 2004.
Also killed was Damien Wyatt. The 35-year-old, who was also known as Beef, had just joined the boat to help out in a relieving situation.
The surviving crew are Chasson Manukau, a 22-year-old from Auckland, and Thomas Tepania, a 16-year-old who is still in Whakatane hospital receiving treatment.
Eric Barratt, managing director of Sanford, which owned the stranded San Cuvier, told the Herald Captain Josephs and his crew had attempted to launch the liferaft at Haurere Pt near Opotiki when it became clear the boat would run aground.
He was an experienced seaman who had lived through many violent storms.
The survivors were picked up by helicopter about three hours later. The body of one of the men was recovered but the second was swept out to sea. A second attempt to recover his body was to be made this morning.
Mr Barratt said the San Cuvier was normally based in Auckland but was making trips from Tauranga. The ill-fated voyage was to have lasted four or five days, he said.
He did not know what had happened to cause the boat to run aground and wasn't sure if weather warnings had been received. There would be an investigation.
"We had several vessels out and once the storm warning came, they got to shelter. We fish all through the year and when storms come along, the vessels take shelter," said Mr Barratt.
Eyewitness Margaret Thompson, who lives at Haurere Pt, told the Herald the men were trying to take their boat out again after coming ashore to shelter from the storm.
Two of the four were rescued from rocks nearly three hours after setting off the distress beacon.
She had invited one of the survivors into her home to "keep warm by the fire and have a hot drink while he waited" for the helicopter to finish searching.
A minute's silence was held at the fish market in Auckland this morning to mark the deaths.
Insurance assessors will this afternoon try to board the vessel, which has been grounded in shallow water east of Opotiki, to assess the chances of salvage.
