Friends pay tribute to the three men who died at sea

by Adam Pearse, NZ Herald

Friends and community leaders have revealed the devastation East Coast communities are feeling at the loss of three community-focused men who died at sea this week. 

It comes as several Givealittle pages have attracted almost $200,000 in donations for the grieving families after the three fishermen were found dead on the Māhia coastline on Wednesday morning. 

Elwood Higgins, 37, of Gisborne, Taina Sinoti, 33, of Te Hapara, and Damien Macpherson, 38, of Te Karaka, died after being caught in rough conditions while fishing for bluefin tuna. 

They were reported missing on Monday. Two of the men were later spotted alive by one vessel near Māhia but dangerous conditions prevented an immediate rescue and scuppered any plans for the Coastguard to search further. 

A number of Givealittle donation pages were created yesterday to help support the families. As of 11.30pm on Wednesday, four separate pages had received about $193,000 in a matter of hours. 

It was a sombre scene at the Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club on Wednesday evening, where local anglers held a minute’s silence in honour of the three men. 

Families of the men spoken to by the Herald chose not to comment at this time but many friends have paid tribute to the keen fishermen. 

Macpherson, a father to two young children, was known to be a talented rugby referee, having transitioned to officiating after his playing career, which included playing for Ngatapa Rugby Club’s premier team from 2004 to 2008 and appearances for Poverty Bay. 

Poverty Bay Rugby Union chief executive Ray Noble said Macpherson, who had refereed locally and in the Heartland competition, was a contradiction to the notion that referees were often polarising figures. 

“You wouldn’t find a person within the rugby community that had a bad word to say about him,” he told the Herald. 

“It’s just a tragic, tragic, tragic loss for us.” 

He described the Te Karaka farmer as a great listener and someone capable of being vulnerable, as well as being well-respected in the rugby community. 

“Especially our young referees, they just hung off every word that he said. 

“He had an impact on so many people that it’s really hard to describe how big this loss is to the club, to the rugby community and the wider community.” 

Ngatapa club president Charlie Allen said Macpherson was a “genuinely good guy” who “always had a glint in his eye” and a “bit of mischief about him”, along with his twin brother Brad. 

“If there was a bit of mischief around, the twins would be involved there somewhere,” Allen said with a laugh. 

He believed Macpherson had been Gisborne’s premier referee and was pivotal in leading the club’s spirit. 

Allen also spoke of how the “glimmer of hope” provided by the sighting disappeared when the bodies were discovered yesterday morning. 

“From all of our perspectives, [we thought] if anyone’s going to survive this ... Damo would, but it didn’t happen.” 

NZ Rugby referee game development manager Matt Peters met Macpherson when the Te Karaka man was part of the now-disbanded national referee squad after his “significant talent” had been identified. 

“He had a nice presence on the field, worked really hard as a referee [and] was a really good prospect for us.” 

Peters detailed how Macpherson’s progression as an official was abruptly halted about five years ago when he broke his leg snowboarding. 

He recalled Macpherson’s “amazing sense of humour” and his “massive engine” on the pitch. 

“I’m almost describing the perfect guy, but I’m actually not overstating it.” 

Former World Cup and Tri Nations referee Bryce Lawrence also met Macpherson through the squad and remembered the farmer’s natural athleticism. 

“Damo was the guy who didn’t need to train because he was naturally fit in his daily work.” 

Lawrence said he had admired Macpherson’s “down-to-earth” nature and had been impressed by his ability after making it to the national level. 

Sinoti would also be missed by friends he’d made in rugby as part of the Horouta Sports Club, where he had coached an under-6s team upon his son joining the club. 

“Every week you could just see they actually adored him,” club member Renata Maraki said. 

Maraki spoke to the Herald from Gisborne hospital where he had seen members of the men’s families. He said it was hard to say how they were feeling, describing the matter as a “tragedy for the community”. 

The Herald earlier reported how a friend of Higgins, Ethan Bryant, had posted on social media: “It’s chilling to the spine to wake up to this news that one of your own has been lost. 

“The world has lost one of the alpha slayers ... Sure you’ll be up there still catching fish too big for ya boat.” 

East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick, who knew the Macpherson family well, said the men’s deaths occurring alongside the wild weather hitting the coast was devastating. 

“We can deal with the flooding and we can deal with a bit of rain, we’re very used to that on the East Coast, but the tragedy of what happened at sea has really flattened everybody,” she said. 

“Everybody is just devastated, you can hear that in their voices. 

“Our people in Tairāwhiti, they have really had a hammering over the last few years and are really feeling it. I think we will rally and we’ll support each other ... [but] it’s going to hurt for a long time, I think.”