Missing Queensland fisherman found alive

A fisherman whose apparent disappearance from a boat off Queensland sparked a massive search has been found alive - still onboard the vessel that had been part of a flotilla looking for him.

Steve Gallagher was found asleep in a compartment on the commercial fishing boat by the skipper Pete Rockliff, about 14 hours after he'd last seen him.

When alerting police, he said he'd noticed the 45-year-old crewman's absence about 2.30am today - 15 minutes after he'd last seen him.

He retraced their route but could not find the missing crewman.

A search began, with seven helicopters, two fixed-wing aircraft and four vessels scouring waters 30 nautical miles off Double Island Point, north of Noosa.

Sunshine Coast Water Police were gearing to widen the effort but at 4pm were told the skipper had found the man safe and fast asleep on board.

Water Police will travel to the vessel to speak to the men and determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.

They haven't ruled out sending the men the bill for the massive search operation.