Other News

Humans were expert deep-sea fishermen as far back as 42,000 years ago, hauling in tuna, sharks and barracudas, new research suggests.

Fish appeared in the human diet about 1.9 million years ago. Early catchers waded into freshwater lakes and streams without the need for boats or complex tools. It wasn’t until later that humans decided to ply the ocean in search of fish.

The latest evidence comes from an excavation on the southeast Asian island of East Timor where remains of tuna and other deep-water fish were uncovered inside a cave. Using dating techniques, a team led by archaeologist Sue O’Connor of Australian National University determined the age to be 42,000 years old — making it the earliest evidence for ocean fishing.

Read the complete story by The AP at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — The story of the giant bluefin tuna seized by federal authorities reeled in media coverage from around the world and made a three-day celebrity out of New Bedford boat owner Carlos Rafael.

Since Rafael's story of the 881-pound fish was printed in Saturday's Standard-Times, television crews and news reporters have besieged the well-known New Bedford boat owner at his waterfront business.

Rafael traveled by limousine to Boston before dawn Tuesday to appear on the early Fox News show. He was also interviewed by the Boston Globe, talked with CNN Tuesday afternoon and was scheduled to appear on Fox Business Network Tuesday evening. The story also went viral on the Internet and was the top story on Yahoo.com.

"I hope I never see another tuna in my life," Rafael said light-heartedly late Tuesday. Many of the calls he has received have expressed sympathy for the loss of the fish, which was seized by federal authorities for a procedural violation. Even though Rafael's boat had a valid tuna permit, the fish was confiscated because it was caught in a net rather than on a rod and reel.

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.

 

 

 

 

 

FOX News reports on the seizure of a bluefin tuna by federal agents.

See the video from FOX.

 

 

 

 

 

BREWSTER — The gooey mass of white flesh bobbing in the shallow surf was tough post-breakfast viewing.

Dressed in bright orange slickers, Carol "Krill" Carson moved in with a white-handled knife, deftly slicing and dicing through flesh and bone, exposing intestines and searching for sexual organs.

The coffee-table-size, flat fish was an ocean sunfish or Mola mola, a name derived from the Latin for "millstone" and aptly descriptive of its shape and weight.

The Mola mola is a frequent visitor to Cape waters and the season is under way for finding them stranded on the shores of Cape Cod Bay, Carson said. Although there are three types of ocean sunfish, the Mola mola is the one most likely to be sighted off the Cape's shores.

Carson, a naturalist for the Captain John Boats out of Plymouth, collects information on ocean sunfish strandings and sightings, compiling the data to better understand the habits and life of these bizarre-looking fish. She compiles information on where and when a Mola mola is spotted locally through an online spotting network that also covers basking sharks, another large fish spotted in Cape waters.

The Mola mola holds the record for the world's largest bony fish and is related to puffer fish. It swims through the water using large dorsal and anal fins as well as a large tail-like fin, which it uses as a rudder. Its truncated shape leaves the impression that its body has been cut in half.

Read the complete article from The Standard-Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mayor Carolyn Kirk was interviewed on videotape by a freelancer at the end of the Senate Commerce Committee hearing organized by Sen. John Kerry at the State House on Oct. 3, Kirk — a Democrat — reminded the president she and her children stood in the cold with hope for the future at the Obama inauguration.

Now, with Gloucester losing "jobs" and "faith in our government" through the Obama administration's fishery policies, she said, she wonders what happened.

Titled the "Quit killing jobs" video, Kirk's interview was posted on YouTube.com — and since then has been noted on a number of platforms, including the online Drudge Report and Sean Hannity's radio program, hosted by conservative host on the Fox network.

Read the complete stroy from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — Coverage of the fishing industry has won The Standard-Times a 2011 Publick Ocurrences Award from the New England Newspaper and Press Association (NENPA).

No more than 16 of these awards are made every year, and competition is intense.

The fishing material included in-depth coverage of the sector management and catch shares system that was imposed on the Northeast groundfishing fleet starting in May 2010.

Read the complete story from The Standard-Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acclaimed British author Simon Winchester, whose latest book "Atlantic" focus in part on the future of the North Atlantic fisheries, is coming to Gloucester.

Winchester worked as a foreign correspondent for most of his early career, although he graduated from Oxford in 1966 with a degree in geology and spent a year working as a geologist in the Ruwenzori Mountains in western Uganda, and on oil rigs in the North Sea, before joining his first newspaper in 1967, according to his publisher, Harper Collins.

His journalistic work, mainly for Britain's The Guardian and The Sunday Times, based him variously in Belfast, Washington, New Delhi, New York, London, and Hong Kong, where he covered such stories as the Ulster crisis, Indo-Pakistan wars, the creation of Bangladesh, the fall of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, and the Watergate affair.

The City Hall presentation will be free and open to the public.

Read the complete article from The Gloucester Times

 

 

 

 

Since launching Buck Bomb in 2004, Rick Schmidt has seen sales of the innovative deer bait grow from a slow trickle to a steady stream of profits.

The Crofton-based company's signature bomb is an aerosol can of deer urine that, when sprayed, unleashes a powerful scent that would make any human wince.

But it's irresistible to bucks, so hunters love it.

The Buck Bomb became so popular that Schmidt unveiled more bombs. There's the Hog Bomb and the Bear Bomb, the Elk Bomb and the Moose Bomb. Sales of the company's products topped $5 million this year, up from only $140,000 during its first year in business, and the bombs are sold everywhere from Annapolis outdoor retailer Angler's to Walmart.

In 2007 and 2009, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. named the small business its Hunting Vendor of the Year. Not bad for a company that has only seven employees during its peak season.

"We buy urine by the tractor-trailer," Schmidt said.

Now, with his new Fish Bomb, he's hoping to reach another wave of customers.

The Fish Bomb follows the same model as the other bombs. It comes in a 5-ounce spray can that retails for $9.99.

This bomb is full of menhaden oil, and is used by attaching it to the end of a fishing line. The bait is slowly dispersed once the can is underwater.

"People have been using menhaden oil for a long time, but usually it just sits on top of the water," said Schmidt's brother Mike Schmidt, developer of the Fish Bomb.

The Fish Bomb takes the bait right down to where the fish are.

"It's a simple enough concept," Schmidt said.

Read the full article at The Capital.

 

NEW BEDFORD — Shane Dolman, a 25-year-old engineer aboard the fishing vessel Westport, shucked 100 scallops in 4 minutes and 2 seconds to win the title, narrowly beating John Hynd from the fishing vessel Wisdom, who had a time of 4 minutes 11 seconds.

But unlike past years, there was no procession of fishing boats that were blessed with holy water as they passed a reviewing stand at State Pier.

Due to a shortage of dock space on the waterfront and the high cost of fuel, the Very Rev. Constantine S. Bebis, leader of St. George Greek Orthodox Church, Dartmouth, blessed the vessels from the sea and from the land.

Bebis, who has presided at each of the 42 annual events and is retiring this year, blessed the fishing vessels from a tugboat in the harbor and a golf cart on the docks.

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend, the best of the city's fishing heritage and culture will be on display as the eighth annual Working Waterfront Festival gets under way down at the docks. The timing couldn't be better, since the port has just been given 306 million new reasons to celebrate. That is the dollar amount that earned New Bedford the No. 1 ranking nationwide for seafood landings in 2010.

This year's festival has adopted "Then & Now: Tradition and Innovation in New England's Working Ports" as its theme. Its aim is to highlight the cultural traditions in fishing communities, recognize industry innovators and consider how the industry has changed over time, organizers say. "We have some performers that play on those themes, like the Northern Neck Chantey Singers, retired African-American menhaden fishermen from Virginia," festival director Laura Orleans said.

The two-day event is totally free and offers the public a close-up look inside the colorful world of commercial fishing, a world that is still largely unknown to most outsiders. A packed schedule offers activities for the whole family. Boat tours, boat building, music, food, documentary films and demonstrations of industry skills such as net making, fish cutting and scallop shucking are just a few of the attractions on offer. There are a tugboat muster and survival suit races. The Coast Guard will be sending a cutter, working boats will be open to the public, and the traditional Blessing of the Fleet takes place at 1 p.m. Sunday. A full program of music, poetry, author readings and panel discussions is also planned.

The festival has become a feature of the local calendar, but its reputation has spread beyond the region. The September issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine recommended the New Bedford event as a top destination. As usual, Fisherman's Wharf will be lined with tents featuring exhibits, products and services associated with commercial fishing and its service industries.

Read the complete story from The Standard-Times