Friends of fishermen want search to resume

K'Cee went missing in the Doubtful Sound area. Photo / Supplied

Friends of two fishermen who went missing in Doubtful Sound last month want police back to search again after finding the ship's wheelhouse.

Bruce Gordon, 42, and Darren Allen, 37, were last heard from on April 30 and were pronounced missing the next day.

Some wreckage of their crayfishing boat, the K-Cee, was found floating off Doubtful Sound but the search was scaled down when no further sign of the pair was found.

On Friday paua divers Doug Fox, Rob Emitt and Murray Braven, friends of Mr Gordon, found the remains of the K-Cee's wheelhouse, TVNZ reported.

"The search was abandoned because police told us they did not have a defined area to search and the area was too big," Mr Fox said.

"But information and facts we had found during ground and air searches were given to police at a debriefing and we thought by doing that we had given them a defined area.

"Now we just want the expert police divers to come and do a job that needs proper equipment."

Mr Fox was taking part in a ground search when he and another person spotted what appeared to be an object in the water.

They returned to the area on Friday and Mr Fox and his friends returned to the area and dived down, locating the wheelhouse.

Police have said that unless new information came to hand, it was unlikely there would be further active searches.

Southland area commander Inspector Lane Todd said police would now reassess the situation.