Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!
Posted on 11/22/2011 1:31:09 PM PST by Silentgypsy
A Massachusetts fisherman pulled in an 881-pound tuna this week only to have the federal authorities take it away. It sounds like a libertarian twist on the classic novella by Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea, but for Carlos Rafael, the saga is completely true.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yikes, that’s a fish that weighs nearly 90% of what an average thoroughbred racehorse weighs.....I guess it’s possible, but how could it be worth what some posters are saying it’s worth-—$400-700K? Breeding rights?
Sushi grade. Big bucks!
I wonder if they will be serving Tuna at the White House next week?
I believe that he had the correct permit but caught the tuna unintentionally with a net as opposed to with a rod and reel.
“...I don’t know if I would have been so up front about my catch. “ How does one hide an 881-pound fish? Maybe it has to be weighed before it’s processed or something and there aren’t any secret scales.
Yes good question citizen... We are requesting the funds to investigate where this Tuna is actually located. We expect funding to be available prior to the third-quarter 2012.
This is America where FREEDOM is NEVER free. If they can’t tax it or steal it, it doesn’t exist.
It's exponential. The more a fish weighs, the more valuable each ounce of it is on the Japanese sushi market.
Pelosi stole it for her tuna factory
—
Probably not. Fish cops usually take the fish to a dealer and sell it. Often they will have the buyer put down a lower weight on the fish ticket, while paying the cops for the actual weight. Guess who gets the difference?
With a bluefin tuna the price per pound can be astronomical. Think hundreds (or in Japan thousands) of dollars per pound.
Back in the day in Washington State, many a fish cop was able to afford an expensive new home and a Porsche for the garage.
When anglers target large bluefin tuna for the purpose of selling them, they usually use a 130 class rod and reel,fished out of a swivel rodholder. (This 130 class equipment is too heavy for a stand-up angler to use with a belt and harness.)
The 130 means the reel is designed to use 130 lb test line although most anglers will use heavier line on the reels. The drag settings (40 lbs in strike and higher in full drag) are so high that you would be pulled out of the cockpit if you were directly connected to the rod and reel with a harness and belt, thus the gear is fished from a swivel rod holder.
Because the rod can't be used to pull the fish back to the boat,since the rod is in the holder, the reel is used as a "winch" to retrieve the line under tension. It is common practice to assist the reel by pulling the line from the first eye toward the reel to take off some of the pressure on the reel.
You are in less danger fighting a tuna this way than you would be in fighting one on lighter stand-up gear. - tom
That’s good info - thanks very much (and to the others posting answers as well). In the case of Marlins, I recognize that while they are fighters, they are also one-third the size of this monster tuna... so for me it was a question of sheer leverage.
The internet is such a wonderfully definitive resource.
The large BlueFin tuna are caught on a rod & reel(remember the tuna chair rod/reel set up on Jaws). They use heavy duty line and brass reels that cost thousands of dollars. This is a not your average fisherman that goes out for these fish. Think $300K + boats and going out 30-100 miles out into the ocean in the gulf stream. The season is very short and strictly controled.
If they hook onto one of these giants it can take 6-8 hours to tire it out enough to reel it close into the boat. Then they will tie it up along side of the boat and try to get back to shore asap. The price goes down if the fish is dead when the get to the dock.
I have been in Portsmouth, NH when they brought these into dock. The buyer was waiting for them at the end of the dock.
The price was negotiated right there and then loaded onto a truck and off to Logan airport it went. The captain was very happy when they gave him the check. His fish was about 200 #s.
Nope. And if the feds don't do it, the states and locals will discover a "loophole" that needs filling.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.