The red flag shows where the diver went missing. (Google Maps)

The search for a missing Ottawa diver resumed near Digby Neck, N.S., at daybreak Thursday.

The 48-year-old man was reported missing Wednesday afternoon. Coast Guard search-and-rescue teams scoured the coast on the Freeport and Westport sides of the Grand Passage waterway Wednesday, but stopped at nightfall.

Ground searchers are back looking for the man while local fishing boats scan the water. Fog is hampering the search.

The CBC's Phonse Jessome spoke to a local fisherman who described the Bay of Fundy waters as "treacherous" and known to rapidly change with the tide.

The missing man was diving for sea urchins off a fishing boat near the Westport shore with two other divers.

"RCMP say he had moved here to Nova Scotia in the past couple of days after going through some personal crisis. His effort was to start his life over here," reported Jessome. "He saw an ad and decided he would move here and attempt to dive for sea urchins."

The Ottawa man became separated from the other two divers Wednesday. They reported him missing to the boat's captain and the search began.

RCMP said the man had held a diving licence since the early 1990s, but had only been in the water about 10 times in the last ten years. Most of that was in lakes and rivers.