The shock news comes days after it was confirmed that Portland Coastguard Station will close in three years’ time, despite an Echo campaign to bring a coastguard supercentre to this area.
Local fishermen said they were worried about the extra time it would take for a search and rescue helicopter to come from elsewhere.
Weymouth fisherman Jason Hemmings said: “Weymouth is one of the busiest sea areas on the south coast – to take away the helicopter is ridiculous.
“It’s a complete waste of money, it seems that it’s only a few years since they built the new site for it and now it’s been axed.”
Another Weymouth fisherman, Terry Studley, said: “All you have to do is look at how long someone can survive in the sea in winter.
“It could be someone drowned by the time a helicopter gets there.
“The survival time is about 10 minutes in the winter, how does that compare with having a helicopter come from Lee-on-Solent?
“A sinking boat will be gone by the time it reached them.”
Andy Alcock, secretary of the Weymouth and Portland Fisherman and Licensed Boatman Association, said: “It’s absolutely ludicrous.
“It’s a disgrace that we have got one of the busiest lifeboats and now no helicopter to support them.
“People’s lives will be at risk without the Portland helicopter.”
200 crucial call-outs in a year
THE Portland Coastguard Helicopter is called out to around 200 rescue incidents a year.
Some of these recent call-outs include: A man who had an accident with an angle grinder, a woman in a motorcycle accident, a multiple car crash on the A35, a horse rider who fell off and broke her neck in an inaccessible place, a passenger on a cross channel ferry who suffered a heart attack, a diver with the bends and a fisherman who caught his arm in the power winch.
The helicopter also went to help a man who fell while climbing at Anvil Point in Purbeck and to assist with an elderly man with Alzheimer’s who wandered off along the coast and to a sea angler who fell ill.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article