What It’s Really Like on a Wicked Tuna Fishing Boat

August 29, 2017 Mid Atlantic, New England

If you add it all up, the days and nights on the water, Captain TJ Ott has probably spent most of his 37 years on a boat. The captain of the 39-foot Hot Tuna is a bear of a man with a scraggly beard who loves the Grateful Dead, and he’ll be the first one to tell you without equivocation that his life as a commercial fisherman is a profession, but also a kind of addiction. All of it—the wind across the deck; the solitude of being out at a spot like Jeffreys Ledge in the Gulf of Maine; settled behind the wheel with a pair of Rottweilers named Reba and Ripple lounging at his heels, scanning the sonar screen—for a guy who grew up in the fishing community of Broad Channel, New York, it doesn’t get any better than this. click here to read the story 15:38

bluefin-tuna, Captain TJ Ott, life as a commercial fisherman, Tuna Fishing Boat, ‘Wicked Tuna’

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Ocean Resource Privatization

Articles Posted by Date
December 2024

M T W T F S S

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

« Nov

December 2024
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet

It took me a while to decide how to most accurately describe the situation that has been visited upon the New England fishing communities that are and since colonial times have been dependent on the groundfish fisheries.

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

Recent Posts
- Trawler captain dumped fish to save ship
  
  A judge has stepped in to settle allegations of misreporting catch by a fishing company, after a trawler captain had to dump 30,000 kilograms of southern Read More »
- Georgia extends shrimp trawling season until Jan. 15, announce the opening of commercial harvest of jellyfish
  
  The state has extended the food shrimp harvest season 15 days until Jan. 15 and announced the opening of the season for the commercial harvest of Read More »
- Autonomous Ships – If Rolls-Royce has its way, commercial vessels will soon have no crew on board
  
  It’s midnight on the North Atlantic, where a massive container ship receives the latest weather report. There’s a nasty storm brewing ahead. Quietly, the ship changes Read More »
- UPDATED: Maine’s elver-fishing industry could be affected by new regulations – harvest to be cut by 25% in 2014
  
  The American Eel Management Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is meeting Wednesday in Georgia to discuss and possibly vote on new regulations. Options Read More »
- Astoria, Oregon, Top West Coast port in pounds landed last year
  
  A report from NOAA/NMFS shows Astoria, Oregon, topped West Coast ports in pounds of fish landed last year. The report released Wednesday shows 159 million pounds Read More »
- Bill To Let Wormers, Clammers Dig At Acadia National Park Clears House Committee
  
  Prospects for wormers and clammers digging in the intertidal zone of Acadia National Park improved today after a U.S. House panel voted for the Acadia National Read More »
- Shipwrecked Scalloper at Outer Banks set for removal
  
  Officials say that work will soon begin to remove a shipwreck at the Outer Banks. A scallop boat called F/V Ocean Pursuit, also known as Cameron Read More »
- Who is the real Saudi Arabia of Wind? By David Goethel
  
  I read the February 16th article by Teddy Rosenbluth, “New Hampshire is blowing its chance at offshore wind”, from the Concord Monitor, with interest and wished to offer Read More »
- To avoid another massive fish kill in the Peconic, limits on bunker fishing lifted by “episodic event set aside program,”
  
  With unusually large numbers of bunker fish appearing in the Peconic River this spring, commercial fishermen will be allowed to net bunker in an effort to Read More »
- Update: Federal Funding for At-Sea Monitoring Likely to Extend into 2016
  
  We are pleased to announce an update on the status of federal funding for at-sea monitors in the New England Groundfish fishery. We have been informed that Read More »
- Enviros and lobster fishermen are unhappy with proposed federal regulations to protect right whales
  
  In a public hearing Tuesday night, conservationists and fishermen alike roundly criticized federal regulators’ proposed changes in fishing rules to protect endangered whales from fishing gear. Read More »
- At U.N. Ocean Conference – Brett Tolley Touts Small-scale Fisheries
  
  Fisheries activist Brett Tolley of Chatham has told many people about the plight of small-scale fishermen like his father, who left the industry because he couldn’t Read More »
- You should have seen the ones that got away…
  
  TWO French fishermen working off the south-west coast of Jersey got a surprise – when they caught 44 bluefin tuna. The fish, which are rarely seen in Read More »
- Western Pacific territories will have a voice in President-elect Donald Trump’s transition.
  
  Vice President-elect Mike Pence met after the election with Congresswoman Aumua Amata Radewagen—the only Republican delegate to Congress. It was there, that Radewagen’s expertise on island Read More »
- WPRFMC Press Release, October 16, 2014 – Fishers Forum on Hawai`i Yellowfin and North Pacific Striped Marlin Management
  
  HONOLULU (16 October 2014) The public is invited to attend the Fishers Forum on Hawai`i yellowfin tuna and North Pacific striped marlin and view a sneak Read More »
- Alaska Dept. Fish and Game loosens Kenai River king restrictions
  
  A healthy Kenai River king salmon run is translating to more fish for everyone, while highlighting management concerns from east side setnetters. The Alaska Department of Read More »
- ‘A family reunion with NASCAR and tractor pulling:’ lobster boat racing season begins
  
  “It’s like family reunion, mixed with NASCAR and tractor pulling,” Travis Otis of Searsport, the vice president of Maine Lobster Boat Races, said about the summer-long Read More »
- Rafael now a tropical storm: Any threat to Alabama?
  
  Rafael, a Category 3 hurricane just yesterday, has weakened rapidly to a tropical storm and had 65 mph winds on Saturday morning. The National Hurricane Center Read More »
- Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 40′ Young Bros. Lobster/Tuna, Detroit 6-V-92, North Lights – 8 KW Genset
  
  Specifications, information and 29 photos >click here< To see all the boats in this series, >Click here<12:57 Read More »
- Vineyard Wind challenges ‘flawed’ permitting decision
  
  The developer of the first commercial-scale offshore wind project in the US is seeking a ‘superseding order’ to overturn a project application decision by the Edgartown Read More »
- Efforts to plug oil leak in British WWII tanker torpedoed by U-boat off US coast
  
  A team has been working to stop oil leaking from a British tanker sunk off the US coast during World War Two. The Coimbra was carrying Read More »
- 8 killed in 1982 F/V Investor murders remembered in Blaine exhibit
  
  Does the time ever come when a community stops remembering a murdered group of its own? In the case of Blaine, possibly not. Almost 34 years Read More »
- A Maine lobster fishing community confronts their changing climate
  
  Over the past 40 years, some lobstermen in South Thomaston, Maine, say that they could “set their watches” by the start of the lobster shedding event Read More »
- Jetties Needed at Oregon Inlet
  
  Congressman Greg Murphy is lending his voice to reviving pursuit of twin jetties to prevent sand clogging the inlet’s navigation channel. The inlet, the only opening Read More »
- Are seafood wholesalers filling their pockets?
  
  Where are the huge profits of seafood wholesalers going? Or the difference between the price paid to fishermen and the price charged to consumers, for example Read More »