AGENDAS & POLICY & FISHING
by Robin

I was doing some research for a blog post that I intend to put up in the next day or so. I'm gathering info & images to defend something I heard at the baith shop down by the port. Anyhow, what I found was something entirely different but shockly interesting none-the-less.

Don't tell me there is no agenda to shut down fishing!!!

In This National Geographic article, written in 2002, it summarizes how declassified military technology was now being used to help fishermen find the best sea beds to drop their nets and essentially rape the ocean of all the fish. Beyond ocean floor maps, NOAA (weather) was releasing daily faxes to sword fleets to help them find the fish. (In truth, they're available for anybody to view online, not just to sword fishermen.)

Anyhow, a study was done by the Pew Charitable Trusts (remember that name), focusing on the North Atlantic Ocean. Interesting, because last time I read up on some of my snapper-debate links, PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS (read here) was also responsible for the research & arguments for shutting down South Atlantic Red Snapper fishing.

PEW claims "The researchers found that quantity of fish hauled from the North Atlantic has doubled since the 1950s and increased eight-fold from levels harvested at the turn of the last century.
The result has been the collapse of fisheries in the North Atlantic and around the world—fish stocks in the Northern Atlantic are only one third of what they were in 1950 and one sixth what they were in 1900.

And this decline is accelerating, said Daniel Pauly, who led the study." (Listen here to the Perils of Overfishing by Mr. Pauly )

(SIMILAR Red Snapper argument: "The rule is supposed to be a stopgap while government agencies consider setting more sweeping, long-term restrictions in response to government research that estimates the stock of red snapper in the Southeast is just 3 percent of what it was in the 1950s." )

Pew goes on to say about the North Atlantic.....

"We need to reduce fishing pressure and fleet sizes and have broader protections for habitats and ecosystems. No-take zones are the best, but the hardest to achieve politically, he said.
(South Atlantic's Red Snapper similar version ) Certain fishing areas in the North Atlantic should be tightly restricted, and catch quotas should all be implemented, added Rosenberg.
We need to close at least 30 percent of the North Atlantic Ocean to fishing, said Pauly. Without such measures we will lose all our fisheries. "


Ok folks, take a deep breath and clear your mind a second. They make it sound much like "The Sky is Falling" scenario, much like we heard from Congress about bailouts, takeovers, and rescues. I also couldn't help but notice that the sky was always falling from the liberal media's "sky". They've got one professor and a highly funded Trust to defend their point, meanwhile, we've got hundreds to thousands of fishermen that argue the point on many of these species. Yet, we keep getting our fishing grounds shut down. Why is that??

As Beck would say, blood is shooting out of my eyeballs from reading all these lies or twisted truths, at best. What can you do about it?

MARCH ON WASHINGTON

"United We Fish" to seek Congressional Support

on February 24, 2010.

Read Here for more details.

MAHI FRY
by Robin

Every so often, we have to discover a new way to fix fish to make it exciting to eat again. Jack has a recipe that we all fell in love with. One day, for lunch, our eldest decided he wanted to see if he could recreate Daddy's recipe. He came very close.



I really love it that my kids enjoy the kitchen as much as we do. We have a great time cooking together. I believe his secret ingredients are Italian bread crumbs, garlic salt or powder, salt, pepper, maybe old bay and some chili powder is option if you like a little kick. Use egg as a binder before you coat w/ seasonings.


Then, he let those sit while we worked on some black-eyed peas. You can see my secret ingredient. I know it doesn't make sense, but I really like these spices to give the beans the right flavor.


Then, my son fries in about 1/2" of EVOO or Veggie oil. Make sure you don't overcook the fish.



Look for that perfect golden outside with white flakes on the inside.


Stir your beans frequently. We also have a pot of rice, because that is standard at our house.



So, now you see our school lunch menu and who serves it. LOL. We love homeschooling by the sea.

Happy Fishing!! We have friends that were going trolling today since it is such a beautiful day.
Robin

I'm alive!! Really, really I am.

I've got another month of being so full with kid competitions and then life will begin to wind down from schooling demands and change over to fishing. We look forward to migrating cobia, mahi and maybe even tuna.

Oh, how we all look forward to those warm months of being on the boat, scouting for pelagics.

For now, we'll probably continue saving money for that time and eat the frozen bags of fish that we already have in the deep freeze. My eldest cooked a bag of mahi from May 30th, yesterday for lunch. I took pictures and will do my best to post them up soon. He's carrying on the tradition of cooking like his father. Not to say I don't cook, but Jack is king of seafood & fish seasoning, grilling, frying, steaming, etc.

Tomorrow is going to be an excellent day for fishing but we're heading out for Lego League Regionals with our son & other engineers-to-be. Maybe next weekend.

Happy Fishing!

SEA TURTLES AFFECTED BY THE COLD
by Robin


http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/seaturtles.html

"Massive rescue efforts on the north end of the spaceport, a few miles away from Launch Complex 39, "The Shop" at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge has been transformed from a garage to a sea-turtle rescue facility. Inside, dozens of federally protected turtles -- mostly green sea turtles, along with the occasional loggerhead -- are warming up in plastic pools and on tarps spread across the floor."

Edited to Add: Young Manatee Found Wedged in Rocks. If you see the video, I've been at those docks before!!

http://www.wftv.com/countybycounty/22216574/detail.html

OUR ANNIVERSARY DINNER
by Robin

We decided that we would use some of the snapper meat to celebrate our 17th anniversary dinner. That is all Snapper shoulder steak babe!!


That was way too much meat for me, so I opted for the 2nd cut off the shoulder. (Actually, it ended up being too much meat for Jack as well.)



Lots of veggies, cornbread and vegan butter.

WORMS
by Robin

Amberjack, especially the big ones, are riddled with worms. We had to cut out chunks of meat from the amberjack steaks. I hated that but nobody wants to get a mouth full of that.

LOTS OF MEAT!!
by Robin

Jack and I are conservationist at heart. We love God's creation of wildlife on land or in the sea. I was an animal science major in college and have always loved animals. But one thing we keep in perspective is that some animals are made for food.



We made a decision early in our first years of offshore fishing never to take more than what we could eat/freeze. We wouldn't take animals that were inedible, simply for trophies. We tried 2 sharks, but felt so guilty that we vowed never to do that again. Sharks are beautiful top predators in the oceanic food chain, to be appreciated. To this day, I cannot choke down a shark steak to save my life.



BUT, we have no problem with filling the deep freeze for a few months at a time.



As I have mentioned, to the point of exhaustion, Red Snapper species are being taken from our dinner plates unnecessarily. There is no shortage. But, we will comply with the rulings begrudgingly. Thursday, was the last day for Jack to take some Red Snapper for an indefinite time.



We carefully, filleted the fish & filled the big bowls up with meat.



It was a sight to behold. Not for beauty, but because it may be the last time we get to freeze up Snapper steaks. What can I say? We're sentimental folks.



I took extra care in vacuum-packing the meat. This machine has more than paid for itself!




Here is the side of the big snapper. Look at those thick shoulder steaks. They will be saved for special occasions.



One thing I want to point out is in the side pictured... there is a blood spot in the center of the steak. Somebody (not Jack) was not careful in how they handled the fish and they bruised the meat. I'm not real happy about that.

More tomorrow.......

12.31.09 - NYE Snapper Fishing
by Robin

First off, my apologies for being a week delayed in posting up Jack's beautiful fish. It was a busy start to our new year and we even got started back up with homeschooling again. I must say, I'm feeling much better in the new year.

So today, I had time to work on uploading, downsizing and uploading again to the blog. I have plenty of pictures that I will space out over the rest of the week as to not overburden you all.

Where to begin???

I guess I'll start off with the crew. Three J's and 1 B (names) headed offshore about 5:30 am from Port Canaveral. They were greeted by some serious 4-5 ft seas. Thankfully, none of them were proned to sea-sickness. These are some hard-core fishermen & woman.



Jack said that the day started off slow. They were targeting grouper before the season closed at midnight. What they kept finding was Red Snapper, which are suppose to be on the verge of extinction. Sheesh.... if I had permission, I'd post up all the pics of fishermen with their limit of Red Snapper that day. Tons of them....... almost a seaworthy infestation of the red buggers.

Here is one of the J's with his snapper. This one is slightly lighter in color, which is normal. Same species.



Finally Jack got his Red Snapper. This one ended up being the biggest of the day. Ignore the fingers in the eyeballs. Offshore fishermen do not put their hands in fish mouths or gills like bass fishermen. Gill plates are razor sharp & their mouths are full of teeth. This is the safest way for Jack to handle a keepable fish. Keepable? Is that a word?




Then, Jack was fishing off the bottom when an Amberjack gave him the fight of a lifetime. They aren't called Reef Donkeys for nothing. They're stubborn as can be, and strong!!




Eventually, Jack won the battle and got him into the boat.



And into the floor fish cooler. I really wish we had one of these built into our boat floor. It is so much easier to slide fish into that then to place one in an upstanding version.



Mr. Amberjack was so big, he couldn't even fit in our smaller cooler. Everybody caught their limit (2) of Red Snapper. Jack's are under ice.



Most these pictures were provided by J & B. Thanks.

Stay tuned in for tomorrow's driveway pics.

GIANT BLUEFIN TUNA

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581966,00.html?test=latestnews

Before you know it, SAFMC will close down tuna fishing too.