"From Fishing to Farmers Markets" ....news & events, issues & ideas

Saturday, January 14, 2006

 
The Really Bad Cold Hits Big

Over the past month, the really bad cold has spread through the fleet like the plague. Steve and Rick were bedridden for three days in December, Cameron was sick over Christmas, and Benny the lightboat skipper, as well as his crew, was a bunk rat for the first three days of this opening. Steve had 100 tons under the boat Monday night and could not wake up Benny to set him. After two hours of this futile attempt, Benny dragged himself out of the bunk, idled into position to turn on his lights, but watched with disgust as a pod of pilot whales sailed through the school and broke it up. The squid dove in terror to the bottom. After another hour of lights, a ten ton cloud of squid warrented a set, so Steve was able to bring only ten tons to market that morning.
Now you hear lots of hacking over the radio as phase two and three ( major hacking & minor hacking) of this lingering virus remain to bedevil the fishermen. This fishery is brutal if you value sleep. Steve naps for two hours on the way out to the grounds, and two to three hours on the way in. That's it, if he's lucky.
A good website to examine this squid fishery can be found at the California Seafood Council's website.

- posted by Holly @ 6:53 AM