RedactedNarrative: On Sunday, April 5, 2020 at approximately 1545 hours, I, Officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), while on uniformed land patrol in a marked patrol vehicle, along with other FWC Officers in the area, received a radio call from Dispatch stating that a 24 foot vessel (FL1395JR) was taking on water approximately 7 miles west of Longboat Key in Sarasota County.
  
  I was pulling into the Manatee County Marine Building where we keep one of our vessels when the call came out. We were then advised that the vessel was actively sinking and four individuals were in the water. I launched the patrol vessel and headed toward the coordinates provided by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) who had received the mayday call from the vessel. While I was en route, I received another radio call from Dispatch stating that the USCG vessel had the four individuals aboard their vessel and was told to return to land since they no longer needed our assistance.
  
  I met with USCG officers at USCG station Cortez and received the information for the four individuals involved in the incident. I called the owner/operator of the vessel, and spoke with him regarding the incident. Operator assured me that all four individuals were uninjured and doing well. He stated that he was operating the vessel which was approximately 12-15 miles off-shore. He noticed that there was a weather system coming in and decided to head back to shore. 
  
  He stated that they were approximately 7 miles off-shore making their way back in (headed east) when he noticed something was wrong in the engine area of the transom. He stated that the engines started to shake. He assumed that the engines were taking on water due to the high waves (5-6 feet). He stated that soon the alarms for both engines went off one at a time. He opened up the hatch containing the bilge to see how much water was in the vessel and the water was almost level with the deck of the boat. The boat was taking on a considerable amount of water very quickly and the bilge pump could not remove enough water to keep the boat afloat. He called the USCG on VHF radio channel 16 to alert them that they were in trouble and pressed the red emergency button on the radio which sends the GPS coordinates to the USCG.
  
  Operator stated that in a matter of a few minutes the vessel was completely underwater. The four individuals on the vessel managed to grab life jackets to help them float while in the water and held on to the boat until help arrived. Operator stated they were in the water for approximately 45 minutes when the USCG vessel arrived on scene to pull them out of the water. The USCG transported the four individuals back to their station at Cortez. The USCG placed a light on the vessel before leaving the scene to prevent a collision from another vessel until the tow boat could retrieve it from the water.
  
  The USCG relayed the GPS location of the sunken vessel to SeaTow. SeaTow responded and towed the vessel from the water. Approximately 25% of the hull of the vessel was on top of the water. The vessel did not completely sink to the bottom due to how vessels are manufactured. This incident occurred in 30-40 feet of water. 
  
  It appears that possible equipment failure in the engine area and the bad weather in the area resulted in the vessel sinking.
  
  End of Report.
  