Families in Bredene gathered on Sunday to remember fishermen and other seafarers lost at sea during the coastal town’s annual memorial service.
The ceremony takes place every year on the last Sunday of August, bringing relatives together to honour loved ones who never returned from the sea.
“We come together here each year to pay tribute and remember,” said Councillor for Culture Alain Lynneel of Vooruit. He said the municipality took over the ceremony in 2016 after the death of its initiator, Patrick Bolle.
“On the one hand, we are preserving traditions, but on the other it is important to keep doing this,” Lynneel said. He noted that the entire municipal executive was present, underlining the importance of the commemoration.
The memorial also remains painful for the community because losses at sea are still recent. Three years ago, 23-year-old Bredene fisherman Michael Hubert died following an accident at sea.
Around 30 bereaved relatives attended the service. The event is not only for families of fishermen, but also for others with loved ones whose final resting place is the sea.
Among them was Magalie Beeckelaers, who said her father’s ashes were scattered at sea on 27 August. He had served in the military, and after a year of waiting the family was finally able to hold the ceremony aboard a naval vessel.
“We had to submit the request through the Defence social services, and we even needed permission from Theo Francken,” she said, referring to Belgium’s federal defence minister.
Beeckelaers said ceremonies such as the one in Bredene are especially meaningful for families who do not have a grave to visit. “We cannot mourn at a cemetery, so we attend this service. When we see the sea, we remember,” she said.
She argued that marines and fishermen should be able to have their ashes scattered at sea through a faster procedure, because “that is their world.” “Now we had to wait almost a year,” said Beeckelaers, the daughter of Dominique Tournay, who died in October 2025.
