A fisherman whose apparent disappearance from a boat off Queensland sparked a massive search has been found alive - and still on the vessel that had been part of a flotilla looking for him.
The 45-year-old was found in a compartment on the commercial fishing boat on Wednesday afternoon by the skipper, about 14 hours after he'd last seen him.
When alerting police, he said he'd noticed the crewman's absence about 2.30am on Wednesday - 15 minutes after he'd last seen him.
He retraced their route but could not find the missing crewman.
A search began, with seven helicopters, two fixed-wing aircraft and four vessels scouring waters 30 nautical miles off Double Island Point, north of Noosa, for the missing man on Wednesday.
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Sunshine Coast Water Police were gearing to widen the effort on Thursday but at 4pm were told the skipper had found the man safe and still on board.
He was discovered in a compartment on the boat, which was still far off the coast after searching all day late on Wednesday.
Water Police will travel to the vessel to speak to the men and determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
