Each year throughout December, community members place poinsettias, sometimes by the dozens, in front of the Tunaman’s Memorial on Shelter Island. However, this year, those plants placed to honor those lost at sea were taken, but it’s not confirmed by whom.

The tradition started more than two decades ago by Lynne Correia.

“I just quietly did it for years,” Lynne Correia said.

Lynne Correia started leaving the plants at the memorial after her husband, Gregory Correia, died in a helicopter crash during a commercial fishing trip that left from American Samoa in 1998. His body was never recovered.

“This is the only place we have to remember them,” Lynne Correia said.

Gregory Correia's name is etched on the memorial, including that of dozens of others who were lost at sea.

“This is where

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