Search for Missing Northern California Fishermen Extended Indefinitely

The Mexican government will continue indefinitely the search for seven Northern California men who went missing Sunday when a storm toppled their fishing boat in the Sea of Cortez.

San Ramon resident Don Lee and Dublin's Gene Leong are among the missing. The others are Russell Bautista, Albert Mein, Mark Dorland, Shawn Chaddock and Brian Wong.

There's been on confirmed death: That of Ceres resident Leslie Yee, a retired San Francisco Chronicle employee. And 37 survivors have been accounted for, including Belmont resident Michael Ng.

Families of the fishermen on Thursday created an online petition to encourage the Mexican Navy to keep the rescue effort alive.

"The Mexican government and Mexican navy are still putting forth a search and rescue," the petition reads (click here to sign it). "Mexican navy Capt. Ruben Bustos said Tuesday that a 96-hour search is usually their protocol to rescue people. After that, their search typically turns into a recovery of bodies, though officials have said that the warm weather and water temperature may help the missing survive."

That means the search would have ended Thursday. But the fishermens' families rallied support from state and federal lawmakers, who pressured the Mexican government to keep looking.

"With the warm weather conditions, we believe the missing family members may be able to survive for additional days at sea or on one of the many islands in the region," California lawmakers wrote in a letter to U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Mandi Lee-Han – daughter of missing San Ramon man Don Lee – has kept the public up-to-date on the latest news related to the search through a "Find Our Fathers" Facebook page, which had mre than 2,400 fans by Friday.

She also made a blog: FindOurFathers.Blogspot.com.

And a PayPal account was created to collect money to fund the search effort. (To donate, go towww.paypal.com, go to the "send money" tab and send it to findourfathers@gmail.com.)

Lee-Han's coworkers at Valley Montessori School in Livermore, where she teaches, will host a bake sale next week to raise money for the rescue. (.)