Tuna Buyer Barge

[Captain Greg Sears]

Before the Moonies there was no market for Horse Mackerel around here. My Grandfather used to tub trawl for Halibut he hated Bluefin he used to wish the Asian community ( For Kamo)
would kill every one of them. The Tuna used to grab my grandfathers trawls and tear them up if he got the trawl back he was lucky. No one knew that the Japanese wanted them. Plus shipping and keeping the fish fresh was a problem.

I don,t think the good old days was as long ago as everyone thinks. And the new old days may be closer than expected. Like Chris said now that we have slowed the giant process fishing boats down things are looking better. But I will say we Americans have screwed things up ourselves and should not cast stones. My grandfathers family is one of the reasons there are no Halibut left on the Bank because back in the early 1900's this was the Bluefin tuna of their time. Human nature contains Greed. Thars Gold in them thar hills.

Oh and by the way I forgot who mentioned the One Hope center consoles swarming the hot spots. NOTHING HAS CHANGED

97 more days until TUNA Fishing on SWC

[Kamo Gari]

Before the Moonies there was no market for Horse Mackerel around here. My Grandfather used to tub trawl for Halibut he hated Bluefin he used to wish the Asian community ( For Kamo)
would kill every one of them.

Well thanks, skipper. See, being civil isn't *that* difficult... You're right, though; funny how times change. I have spoken to several old salty guys (in their 70s, I would say) out of the NBPT area who say that they can't believe how much people pay for tuna these days, as they used to catch them to sell to the cat food distributors for pennies a pound, as no one wanted them for human consumption. I guess some cats ate well back then!

[relentless]

I remember fishing the SW corner with John Morris on the Evelyn R out of Newburyport back in the fall of 1976. One day we picked up a nice fish and the big white Jap buy boat purchased the fish which was 700 LBS. The following day we picked up another hand line fish and it was too rough to get on board and the scale was about 40 feet away. The guy yells over in broken English 700 LBS. John was ready to shove that scale where the sun didn’t shine knowing there was no way two fish in a row weighed the exact same weight. The following year Bob Cloutier on the UTOPIA that I mated on quite a bit was a buy boat out of Gloucester. His 42’ Bruno was easy to see with its big pipe tower. Now those were the good ole days.

Capt Dave

[Capt Fred]

There is a good book on this subject for those of you that have not read it. It's name is
"Giant BlueFin” Written by Douglas Whynott, a local Cape Cod writer. This book is very factual. He rode with some of the pioneer Cape Cod Harpooners back in the day. The Sampson family etc. and has chronicled days on the water with them. The Mooney’s first appearance in the bay, selling to them on the water. The book describes the start of "Cape Cod Bluefin" consortium, the boys from Chatham that pooled there recourses and flew to Japan to see what the hell was going on. Very easy read but if you have an interest in this stuff "and I know you do" you should pick it up. Good story of how this fishery was developed. The book has been out of print for some time but if you look around you will find it on the used book market
Enjoy

[Col. Kurtz]

Agreed, an excellent read. Here it is on Amazon, $17 plus shipping:

http://www.amazon.com/Giant-Bluefin-...7548848&sr=8-1

There is a good book on this subject for those of you that have not read it. It's name is
"Giant BlueFin” Written by Douglas Whynott, a local Cape Cod writer. This book is very factual. He rode with some of the pioneer Cape Cod Harpooners back in the day. The Sampson family etc. and has chronicled days on the water with them. The Mooney’s first appearance in the bay, selling to them on the water. The book describes the start of "Cape Cod Bluefin" consortium, the boys from Chatham that pooled there recourses and flew to Japan to see what the hell was going on. Very easy read but if you have an interest in this stuff "and I know you do" you should pick it up. Good story of how this fishery was developed. The book has been out of print for some time but if you look around you will find it on the used book market
Enjoy

[relentless]

Fred,

Just lend us your copy!

Capt Dave

[Capt Fred]

Dave, no problem. I will throw it in the truck. See you soon

[oldmud]

Dave, no problem. I will throw it in the truck. See you soon

Well yeah he's only two boats away !!! . i have a copy also but someone that i havn't seen for some time now has / had it.