The search for missing Beaufort County crabber came to an end this afternoon as emergency response agencies located the remains of 52-year-old Michael Lane Hopkins.

According to Keith Moore, chief warrant officer with U.S. Coast Guard: Sector North Carolina in Wilmington, Hopkins was found deceased below the surface of the waters off North Creek in the Pamlico River at around 11:40 a.m. yesterday. Details of how his death occurred have not yet been released. Crews searched for a total of about 17 hours and covered about 647 miles, according to U.S. Coast Guard officials.

Hopkins, a resident of Old Pamlico Beach Road in Belhaven, was last seen leaving a boat dock located on Garrett Avenue in Bath just after 7 a.m. on Monday to go crabbing on his 23-foot recreational boat, according to a press release from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Later that day around 11 a.m., someone reported his boat adrift off Hickory Point, northeast of Aurora. Deputies with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office responded and found the boat empty except for a life jacket, gas cans, live crabs and Hopkins’ dog.

The sheriff’s office and the USCG are conducting an ongoing investigation. No foul play is suspected at this time.