Free Republic

Last week saw the launching of this Weekly FR Boating Thread. 15 posts with 6 boating links – nice start! Launching ~ Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 1 ~ Jan. 27, 2012 Everyone is welcome to come aboard – come on it, the water is fine!This time of year almost all boaters are mired in the midst of ‘off-season’. What do you do to survive your ‘off season’? Listen to boating music, watch boating movies, surf boating YouTube and blogs, busy yourself with Winter boat upgrade and maintenance projects, catch up on non-boating stuff? Where you do your boating...

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=8642

… Commercial fisherman Jonathan Robinson took issue with that. “Those resources belong to the public,” he said. “They’re not just exclusively for the rich, who can afford boats and trips to the coast. Commercial fishing is a channel that provides access to these resources for all the citizens — for the blacks in the cities and the poor working people in farm towns in North Carolina.” Commercial fisherman Chris McCaffity of Morehead City echoed his sentiment. “I recently had a disabled veteran thank me for defending his freedom to eat the fish he once caught himself,” McCaffity said. Over the...

SARASOTA, Fla. (CBS TAMPA) – A man fishing from his kayak a half-mile from Point of Rocks off Sarasota was shocked when a dog that was involved in a deadly DUI crash swam up to his boat terrified. Once pulled to safety, Barney shrunk into a corner of the small craft, shaking and traumatized over the event. He sustained minor injuries, including one to his paw and several cuts. The man brought Barney to a local vet, who used a tracking chip implanted in him to discover his owner was Donna L. Chen, who was struck by a Nissan Altima...

The giant Black Tiger shrimp that Ron Pockrus caught off the Texas coast might be the biggest threat to the $700 million Gulf shrimp industry to come along in years, marine biologists said. Pockrus, the owner of a 13-vessel shrimp fleet operating out of Brownsville, caught the 12-inch, 13-ounce specimen last week. Pockrus said he’s been aware of the species for about three years but hadn’t seen one. Now, he has turned in two to marine and wildlife officials this season. “I have another boat coming in with one on it now,” Pockrus said. “That makes the third one we’ve...

New England lawmakers are asking the U.S. Commerce Secretary for an emergency assessment of the abundance of cod in the Gulf of Maine. ... The six lawmakers also are asking Bryson to freeze the cod catch limit at its current level until the study is complete. Fishermen are facing devastating cuts in cod catch next year

Dec 13, 2011 4:10am South Korea Furious Over Illegal Chinese Boats Public anger in South Korea has escalated a day after a Chinese boat captain stabbed a South Korean coast guardsman to death and seriously injured another with a knife. The captain is charged with murder while resisting arrest by coastal police patrolling illegal Chinese fishing boats at the West Sea’s exclusive economic zone. In one indication of South Korean rage, a 34-year-old man smashed his SUV three times into a police bus guarding the Chinese Embassy inSeoul. And South Korean headlines today strongly criticized the increasing number Chinese fishermen...

Maine’s congressional delegation is supporting Gov. Paul LePage’s request seeking a federal fisheries disaster declaration to provide aid to Maine’s groundfishing fleet. ... His request followed a recent report documenting a sharp decline in Maine’s fishing fleet due to changes in federal fishery management plans.

For one New Bedford fisherman, the big one that got away was the one that was taken away -- by federal fisheries agents. Carlos Rafael, owner of Carlos Seafood, has 15 boats that hunt for groundfish like haddock and flounder, but they have tuna permits just in case. So when one of his captains called to report that his crew had caught an 882-pound tuna in their trawling gear about a week ago, Rafael thought he would legally be able to sell the fish. “I called the hotline for tuna to make sure I was doing everything by the books,”...

A catastrophic landslide 22,500 years ago dammed the upper reaches of northern California's Eel River, forming a 30-mile-long lake, which has since disappeared, and leaving a living legacy found today in the genes of the region's steelhead trout...about 60 miles southeast of Eureka. The river today is 200 miles long, carved into the ground from high in the California Coast Ranges to its mouth in the Pacific Ocean in Humboldt County. The evidence for the ancient landslide, which, scientists say, blocked the river with a 400-foot wall of loose rock and debris ... "Perhaps of most interest, the presence of...

Almost impossible to avoid slowing the pace down when you hear these two telling you to take it easy. What I love about the song is the reminder that in this modern world, when so much of our daily life appears to happen in the fast lane, there is a need to sometimes drop down through the gears and just unwind.

Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is calling on President Obama to fire the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, saying she’s worsened the fishing industry’s problems. Brown said Saturday in a press conference at the Gloucester waterfront that Obama should replace Jane Lubchenco. In a statement, Brown said Lubchenco was indifferent to the industry’s struggles and wrongly committed to a new management system he says is destroying fishing jobs.

Wilderness is clean, well-stocked, thanks to outdoor recreation communityIt is sad to admit that hardly anyone knows what the acronyms SCI, DU, NSSF, NWTF and RMEF stand for or what those organizations do. That’s not your fault but rather the hunting community’s dismal failure to conduct fundamental public relations. As public relations go, the hunting community couldn’t sell a blanket to a naked man in a blizzard. The accomplishments of SCI (Safari Club International), DU (Ducks Unlimited), RMEF (Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation) and many other hunting/conservation organizations are extraordinary. But because of their failure at relating to the public, the...

Bass Pro Shops have developed a devoted following by packing cavernous stores full of rods and reels, camping and hunting gear, camouflageclothingandanimal trophy-heads. Behind the scenes, the retailer discriminates in hiring, the government said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Among the allegations: Bass Pro managers repeatedly refused to hire non-white workers as clerks, cashiers or managers, and used discriminatory language to explain their reasoning, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed its suit in federal district court in Houston. For instance, the government alleged a Bass Pro human-resources executive told federal investigators that the assistant ...

Janet Parker has a clear shot at becoming the first woman to compete in the Bassmaster Elite Series. From Little Elm, Texas, Parker said if she qualifies she won't hesitate to commit for the 2012 Elite Series season. "I am on top of the world," she said. "I can't tell you how excited I am to have this chance." Parker took a big step toward the Elite Series on Sept. 10 with a 10th-place finish on the Arkansas River in the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Central Open division. The high finish jumped her from sixth to second place in the...

Commercial fishermen will no longer have their regulatory cases heard by Coast Guard Administrative Law Judges. Instead, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that as of Thursday, Environmental Protection Agency ALJ’s will preside over all new fishing law enforcement cases. This measure is being taken in response to an inquiry made by the Inspector General into complaints by commercial fishermen that NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service’s regulatory system was being excessive with its penalties and actions. Jerry Slaff, NOAA public affairs officer, said the EPA will provide judges for regulatory cases for the next two years. He said NOAA...

Friends say Dan Dodds of Coupeville, WA, fought the big king salmon nearly 20 minutes, running up and down the beach at Keystone Spit and wading waist-deep into the water before finally landing the 28-pounder he called "the fish of my dreams." Minutes later, Dodds, 62, suffered an apparent heart attack and fell face down in the water. Efforts by fellow anglers to perform CPR failed, and he was pronounced dead at Whidbey General Hospital. "If I have to go, I’d like to go in that manner," said angler and friend Joe Biller. Whidbey News Times.

So the offer from Theophile Bourgeois was this: How'd you like to go fish Breton and Gosier islands Monday morning? My answer was: Not sure I've got the time Monday. Have an interview I can't miss (with an MRI machine). It's a two-hour drive to Venice, then a 45-minute boat ride. That means if we fish an hour or two, the round trip would total about eight hours. How about another day? That's when Bourgeois, owner/operator of Lafitte's Bourgeois Charters, went a little crazy -- which is a real warning for a guy who's already casting with a half-empty spool....

Recently NLPC reported that Walmart’s top “sustainability” adviser, who provided significant help in getting the company’s “Green” credibility with environmentalist groups in gear, was Jib Ellison – a former wilderness expeditionist and river guide, and author of a guide on whitewater rafting. The story of his relationship with Walmart, which began with the introduction of Ellison by Rob Walton (son of founder Sam) to former company CEO Lee Scott, is documented in the new book Force of Nature: The Unlikely Story of Walmart’s Green Revolution by Edward Humes.The passion for environmental concerns (which has also included foolish corporate support for...

Annette Gutierrez embarked on her first-ever fishing trip recently out of Valdez, Alaska, and returned with a monstrous Pacific halibut weighing 335.7 pounds and measuring 88 inches from mouth to tail -- or nearly two feet taller than the 5-foot-6 angler. Chalk it up to beginner's luck, or Lady Luck, but Gutierrez, a New Mexico resident who works seasonally in Alaska, has joined the elite few to have landed a "barn door" halibut topping 300 pounds. "It was insane to get such a very big fish my first time," said Gutierrez, in an interview last week with the Fairbanks Daily...

Michael Milken evokes thoughts of financial wisdom at a level far beyond that of an unsophisticated fishing industry essayist like me. So, when one of the sessions at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2009 is titled "Innovative Funding for Sustainable Fisheries and Oceans," I take notice. The panel for the fisheries session was moderated by Larry Bond, a consultant for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the speakers were David Crane, David Festa, Jerry Schubel, and Jason Winship. Two members from EDF and none from the fishing industry, oh, well. The audio of the session is fascinating, particularly that of...

A 4-year-old boy who was fatally shot while fishing with his father in northeastern Indiana was struck in the head by an errant bullet, a sheriff and a family friend said. Wells County Sheriff Monte Fisher told The Associated Press on Sunday that Jacob Michuda was shot in the head late Friday night while he and his father were fishing from a pier at a pond outside Ossian, a rural community about 15 miles south of Fort Wayne. Trisha Ulmer told The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne for a Sunday story that the boy's mother told her the boy was...

Captains issue S.O.S., claiming new rules meant to save the fish are killing their way of life. With the height of the New England fishing season getting under way this week, small family fishermen say controversial new rules are destroying their livelihood — forcing them to sell their boats and instead search for work as laborers on larger vessels. “It’s a death knell. It’s the beginning of the end for small fishermen,” said Rhode Island fisherman Joel Hovanesian, 54, who recently sold his boat. Plymouth fisherman Stephen Welch, 50, a father of two, said: “We’re in a crisis right now.”...

One person was reported dead and eight others were missing Monday after a fishing boat carrying 27 U.S. tourists and 17 Mexican crew members capsized in rough seas in the Gulf of California, officials said. The tourists, most of them from California, were aboard the charter vessel Erik when a storm suddenly struck about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, hurling people into the water off San Luis Island, about 60 miles south of the Baja California port of San Felipe, the Mexican navy said. "The weather was calm, and then a strong wind came," said Dora Winkler, a spokeswoman with the Port...

As a lifelong commercial fisherman from Rhode Island who is involved with the regulatory process, I have one simple question to ask: Just what are we trying to accomplish with fish quotas? Federally, the science that drives the stock assessments and sets the quotas is so bad that industry has taken it upon itself to provide a better snapshot of many stocks of concern. Predictably, the picture is not nearly as dire as our federal scientists would lead us to believe. Recently, a side-by-side comparison was done, using the new multi-gazillion-dollar research vessel paid for with your tax dollars and...

Proposed Budget Cuts Threaten Fish Hatcheries and State Economies Proposed budget decreases at nine federal fish hatcheries could have a devastating effect on already fragile economies in states where these facilities are located. State fisheries managers in affected areas are asking anglers to contact their U.S. congressmen/women immediately to have the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reconsider shutting down mitigation stocking. The President's FY 2012 Budget calls for a reduction of $6.3 million to the USFWS fish hatchery mitigation operations, while its overall funding would be increased by almost $48 million. Mitigation activities will be cut or ended unless full...

ABRUPT CLOSURES of popular ocean fisheries in recent years by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Fisheries Service, some based on allegedly sketchy data, raised the ire of many anglers and conservation groups. Rob Wittman, Virginia's 1st District representative in Congress, has crafted a widely endorsed bill that requires catch limits to be set based on sound science. Wittman's Fishery Science Improvement Act, House Resolution 2304, was first briefed to legislators June 14. Now filed and assigned to the Committee on Natural Resources, the bill has 17 co-sponsors in Congress and is endorsed by the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus as...

No license is required. SOUTH CHARLESTON -- National Fishing and Boating Week runs from June 4 -12 and as part of it, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources is offering its 21st annual Free Fishing Weekend. The weekend is June 11-12 and allows both state residents and out-of-state residents to fish in West Virginia without a license. “It is a great opportunity to remind people of the fun of fishing, especially with family and friends. If you already have a license, take someone fishing. It may be your children, spouse, or co-worker and introduce them to a lifetime of...

Palin sounds like candidate in return to New Hampshire Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin swept into New Hampshire on Thursday sounding like a candidate, but stayed mum on her plans for the 2012 presidential election and beyond.The 2008 vice presidential candidate and conservative star took her "One Nation" bus north from Boston to the seaside town of Seabrook, New Hampshire.It was the first visit to the key early primary state since Palin's failed run for the White House with John McCain."I want people to focus on my record," Palin told reporters outside the small blue house where a few dozen...

Paul Christensen cast his line deftly into the water. Seconds later, the line went taut and he went to work to reel in his catch. The outcome was never in doubt, but the fish was not giving up without a fight. After a couple of minutes, Christensen showed off his catch, a carp of about 5 pounds (more like 3 pounds), hooked on the soccer field at Fuller Park in Ann Arbor Friday. That’s right, a soccer field. “It’s sort of a making lemonade out of lemons situation,” said Dirk Fischbach of Saline, who came out with Christensen Friday to...

Right after ice off on the lakes many insects start hatching and this is a perfect time for fly-fishing. Rainbow or 'Kamloops' trout is the fish of choice on the small lakes and a day on one of these lakes whether you catch fish or not is one of life's most relaxing moment. I've seen deer and moose while fishing and ospreys have dived within a few meters, loons come close looking for a hand out and this time we filmed a fishermen giving his catch to a bald eagle.

State Noodles With Decriminalizing Fish-Grabbing; Watch Out for the Tail Brady Knowlton believes it's his inalienable right as a Texan to shove his bare hand into the mouth of a 60-pound catfish and yank it out of a river. But wrestling a flapping, whiskered giant as it latches onto your arm with its jaws isn't among Texas's accepted methods of capturing fish. It is, rather, a class C misdemeanor, with fines of up to $500. So Mr. Knowlton, a 30-year-old-private citizen, oilman and outdoor enthusiast here, is pushing a bill in the state Legislature to legalize hand fishing, also known...

Oregon and Washington have been given permission to resume removing or killing California sea lions at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, a federal agency said Friday. The decision by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came about six months after a federal appeals court struck down a similar permit aimed at reducing the number of threatened or endangered salmon eaten by the hungry marine mammals. ... the California sea lion population is healthy, estimated at 238,000, while wild Columbia River spring chinook salmon are listed as endangered. ... NOAA Regional Director William Stelle said new data suggest sea lions...

East Coast fishermen say the new Obama job-killing regulations are killing the industry. Poor distraught fishermen are attempting suicide. WMUR reported: Fishermen on New Hampshire’s Seacoast are warning that new fishing regulations could destroy their industry and have already caused them severe emotional stress. The U.S. Department of Commerce has sent a team to Seabrook to look at the effects of the new regulations. “If they don’t do something to modify the fishing regulations, we won’t have a fishing industry on the Seacoast, is what it boils down to,” said Hampton Town Manager Fred Welch. Many in the fishing industry...

VANCOUVER — Canadian "superfish" are making an international splash this week. A prime specimen has landed on the cover of one of the world's most influential scientific journals, along with a study showing some of British Columbia's fabled sockeye salmon may not survive climate warming. Peak summer water temperatures in the Fraser River are already "near lethal" for some sockeye populations, says biologist Erika Eliason, lead author of the study that is sure to raise eyebrows at the ongoing federal judicial inquiry into the troubled Fraser River fishery. The salmon are so finely tuned to their environment they appear to...

FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- A Butler County church that gave away $1,000 to fill more pews last Easter Sunday says it will do it again this year and on future Easters. Lindenwald Baptist Church in Fairfield draws names to award $500 each to a member of the congregation and a guest. Like WLWT on Facebook: Pastor Randy Moore said the church had hoped for 1,000 worshippers last year, when it made the offer for the first time. It packed in 1,140 – more than double the usual Sunday attendance of around 500. "There were more visitors last year than we had...

You would think I could remember this. After all, it’s my rule. That’s why it’s called, “Randy’s Rule”. However, its importance never hits its mark until after I’ve become frustrated beyond measure. My most recent fishing expedition was no different. “Heston, stop that!” “Emma, will you just please stop casting long enough for me to untangle the other 3 lines?” “Payden, please do not cast so close to your sister’s ear!” I lost my chance to catch something because of tangles in trees and attention spans shorter than my own fuse. I lost my cool. Ultimately, I lost sight of...

People are discovering antique fishing tackle all the time, in closets and at garage sales, but none of that compares to discoveries made recently by archaeologists at two of the Channel Islands off Southern California. Looking for signs of ancient human settlement, they unearthed meticulously-crafted spearheads and other tools (see photo at right) that date back 12,000 years and provide insight into the lives of a seafaring culture that obtained bounty from the ocean. The astonishing discoveries, at three sites on Santa Rosa and San Miguel islands west of Santa Barbara, strongly support the theory that during an era when...

She's studying at a college in Florida, and like any typical American teenager she loves shopping and hanging out with her friends. But at weekends she is one of the deadliest shots in the brush. Regis Giles, 19, is one of America's hottest hunters - and she's taking the big game world by storm. She's killed buffalo, wild boar, deer and a bear in her hunting career, which began when she was aged just nine. And she's already drawing parallels to Sarah Palin, America's most famous gun-toting wilderness-loving woman. Miss Giles is a lifetime member of the NRA. She was...

"...NOAA and its state partners will ask anglers how long their fishing trips last and how much they spend on bait, boat fuel, ice, charter fees and other expenses. Anglers will also be asked to participate in a follow-up survey that will ask them to estimate what they spend on durable goods such as boats and fishing tackle used for saltwater angling for the previous 12 months. Those who participate in both parts of the survey will help NOAA produce accurate economic information."

A frame from a video of the 327-pound alligator gar recently caught in Vicksburg, Mississippi. What a Valentine's Day catch!  Looking for all the world like the cross between an alligator, a fish and dinosaur, the alligator gar is the largest freshwater fish in America. And with two rows of teeth, the predatory fish is also terrifying. So you can imagine his surprise when Kenny Williams, from Vicksburgh, Miss., stumbled across what is being called the largest one ever caught on February 14. The tremendous fish measured 8 feet, 5 inches long, weighed 327 pounds, and was 48 inches around,...

MONKTON, Md. (AP) -- As an algae with a gross nickname invades pristine trout streams across the U.S., Maryland is about to become the first state to enforce a ban on a type of footgear the organism uses to hitchhike from stream to stream: felt-soled fishing boots. The state Department of Natural Resources plans to prohibit wading with felt soles starting March 21 to curb the spread of invasive organisms that can get trapped in the damp fibers and carried from one body of water to another. Similar bans will take effect April 1 in Vermont and next year in...

Wow!  What a nice job by CBS News, Armen Keteyian, and Katie Couric.  On 16 February, CBS News devoted some four minutes to an investigative piece into the scandal that should have rocked NOAA and the Obama administration last fall.  Our government is driving the fishing industry into oblivion with "unduly complicated" regulations and with federal agents who are "overzealous" and prone to "abusive conduct." The piece opened with Bill Lee, a fisherman from Rockport, MA, who has been forced out of business by the fines levied by NOAA.  Mr. Lee is articulate and the photogenic background of Motif...

On the rare occasion when federal bureaucrats waver in their commitment to expanding their own regulatory power, environmental extremists can always be counted on to look for a sympathetic judge to expand it for them. The latest clever scheme would undermine the right of Americans to hunt and fish, using the judicial branch to implement policies too hot for regulators or lawmakers to touch. Congress needs to step in and disarm this assault on traditional sporting activities. The California-based Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) fired the first shot in August when it asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban...

GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA January 15, 2011 Fishing interests see 'corrupt' regulatory scheme By Richard Gaines Staff Writer NEW BEDFORD — Mayor Scott Lang says the "rule-making" process in the federal fisheries regulatory system is as "corrupt" as its New England law enforcement branch was revealed to be. And he predicted Thursday night that corruption, alleged to emanate from "inside baseball" played by government officials and environmental giants such as the Environmental Defense Fund, will be exposed in "the light of day," targeted in part by a lawsuit filed by the cities of New Bedford and Gloucester and a wide range...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A ruling by the Obama administration allowing the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol is running into legal hurdles from trade groups opposing the plan. The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday over the decision to allow the sale of gasoline containing higher blends of corn-based ethanol, the second major group to protest the ruling. The Obama administration said in October that gas stations could start selling the ethanol blend for vehicles built since the 2007 model year, increasing it from the current blend of 10 percent ethanol.

BEIJING - The Chinese fishermen detained by South Korean authorities are likely to return home on Saturday, after the charges against them were dropped a day before. Three Chinese fishermen were booked on a charge of "obstructing the duty of civil servants" after a collision between their trawler and a patrolling South Korean vessel in the Yellow Sea on Dec 18. However, South Korean coast guard officials decided to drop the charges on Friday, citing their "lack of direct involvement in the incident" and "active cooperation in the investigation", according to the Yonhap News Agency. The report said the coast...

Pradyun Chakraborty reclaimed his torn fishing net from the river. He and his wife counted the fish they caught—only 20 small Bagdha Ponnas, enough to get him 20 rupees (40 cents US). The net alone cost him 200 rupees ($5 US) to rent, half of which he still owed to his creditor. With fish escaping from his torn net and hardly any other work, Pradyun and his family were just barely surviving. It was the same for Jalal Balan. He bought his fishing net on credit for 1,000 rupees ($22 US) and was slowly paying it off. The majority of...

The California State Fish and Game Commission adopted sweeping closures of ocean waters off the Southern California coast, eliminating sportfishing and most other uses in these areas in a vote Dec. 15 in Santa Barbara. In adopting the regulations, mandated as part of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), three words come immediately to mind about the process: corrupt, unfunded and unnecessary. The process has been flawed from the beginning. First, there is massive conflict of interest that should disqualify two of the commissioners from voting: Commissioner Michael Sutton, whose employer stands to gain financially with the passage of massive...

The state of Alaska filed a lawsuit Tuesday in an effort to stop a federal agency's plan to protect endangered sea lions by restricting fishing in the western Aleutian Islands. According to Parnell's office, up to 900 people are employed by fleets in the areas where fishing will be restricted. It says the plan would cost fishery losses of tens of millions of dollars annually, and it believes the federal agency committed procedural violations that limited input from the public and experts.