The US Coast Guard has suspended its search for a man who fell overboard from a scallop fishing vessel southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts on Sunday night.

The search was suspended after agents were unable to locate the unnamed man after a search covering 1,444 square nautical miles, the Coast Guard said in a Twitter post.

The vessel with a reported crew of seven is operated by Blue Harvest Fisheries.

It sailed from New Bedford and was 70 miles from Nantucket when crew members realized their colleague was missing, returning to port on Tuesday morning.