FORT MORGAN, Ala. — Longtime charter boat captain William Allen “Rookie” Kruse was found dead on his boat by his deckhands on Wednesday morning of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

While no specific details were given, Mayor Tony Kennon shared the news with citizens at Wednesday’s town hall meeting in Orange Beach.

“This has left a hole in our hearts. We are going to miss him,” Kennon told the crowd.

Kruse, who had recently been working with BP’s Vessel of Opportunity program, was the owner and operator of two charter boats that worked out of Zeke’s Landing Marina and has been fishing in the waters of the gulf for 26 years.

Captain Ben Fairey, owner of the charter boat Necessity and former president of the Orange Beach Fishing Association called it an overwhelming situation.

“Captain Kruse has been a member of our association for a long time,” Fairey said. “He was on the board of directors for the OBFA, and he leaves a wife and four children. This is a very sad day for the Orange Beach fishing community.”

Fairey said Kruse and others involved in the fishing industry were having a very difficult time.

“All I can say is that this is a very stressful time for our fishing community,” said Fairey. “We went through Hurricane Ivan in 2004 with a direct hit, then we got a brush in ’05 with Katrina, then skyrocketing fuel prices, and now we have the unfortunate incident with the oil spill. We’ve been out of business since June 2, when they closed our federal waters, then mid-June our state waters got closed, so it’s been absolutely a very stressful time.”

Fairey said the fishing community appreciated what BP has done helping put local fishermen to work, but still, their lives are upside down.

“These are very independent guys who have been their own bosses for a long, long time, and there is just a lot of pressure on them right now.”

Fairey said although he had not spoken to Kruse personally in a couple of weeks, he said others had mentioned a concern about Kruse.

According to Fairey, Kruse, who was from the Foley area and well liked by a lot of people, had been very involved in the oil spill effort since the situation began.

“He was very helpful with me in the fisheries management. We talked about new management plans. We talked on a pretty regular basis.”

Members of the Orange Beach Fishing Association who are also involved in the Vessels of Opportunity program have requested the day off to attend funeral services for Kruse.

In addition, a compassion fund has been set up to assist the family with expenses. Those interested in donation can call the OBFA at 981-2300.

There are presently 151 members of the Orange Beach Fishing Association, including business members, associate members, boat captains and deckhands.