I went to school for Marine Biology, and until I switched to the pharma industry I made the bulk of my bread for the National Marine Fisheries Association (NMFS, a division of NOAA). It was decent money, I met some really neat and nice people, saw a lot of shit that many people have never seen, got a LOT of stories, and also just living on a work boat offshore for weeks at a time, there is NOTHING else like that.
I never regret changing careers the work was brutal, dangerous, dirty, cold, wet, and monotonous…but the big reason was I was doing evil.
Boat owner Rafael, a big player in the local fishing industry, was elated when the crew of his 76-foot steel dragger Apollo told him they had unwittingly captured a giant bluefin tuna in their trawl gear while fishing offshore.
“They didn’t catch that fish on the bottom,” he said. “They probably got it in the midwater when they were setting out and it just got corralled in the net. That only happens once in a blue moon.”
Rafael, who in the last four years purchased 15 tuna permits for his groundfish boats to cover just such an eventuality, immediately called a bluefin tuna hot line maintained by fishery regulators to report the catch.
When the weather offshore deteriorated, the Apollo decided to seek shelter in Provincetown Harbor on Nov. 12. Rafael immediately set off in a truck to meet the boat…However, when Rafael rolled down the dock in Provincetown there was an unexpected and unwelcome development. The authorities were waiting. Agents from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Law Enforcement informed him they were confiscating his fish — all 881 pounds of it.
Even though the catch had been declared and the boat had a tuna permit, the rules do not allow fishermen to catch bluefin tuna in a net…“I think I’m going to surrender all my tuna permits now. What good are they if I can’t catch them?”
I do know I met Mr. Rafael while working the docks of New Bedford and he was a REALLY nice guy (and as a Fed I didn’t hold it against somebody if they expressed some hostility for my employer) I believe I shipped out on one or two of his boats, but in the hundreds of trips I made, most of the boats are a blur to me. I will also say that every harbor has one or two guys like Mr. Rafael who own a lot of boats and infrastructure, and I must say Carlos Rafael always seemed to be in good standing with his employ. Compare that with Bob Brown (The fella portrayed by Michael Ironsides in the Perfect Storm film) who even for a man who’s been dead for several years people always seem to find a point to mention how hard he’d run is crews, and how big his cut off the top would be from the catch.
Now what I find interesting about this story is that Carlos Rafael is not some dumb yokel. He’s one of the biggest name in one of the biggest fishing Ports in America. So he bought a Tuna permit for his dragger boat. Of all my trips I’ve only been on one boat where they set the nets (in this case a gill netter) and then broke out the rods to nail a few more fish (BTW that captain handed me a rod too and we NAILED some monster cod for about two hours…would have been an awesome day if it wasn’t February and about -20 outside. Every other boat didn’t have a rod on board, or did just in case a bored crew member decided to toss a line over the rail. Certainly this boat in question did NOT have the hook-and-line gear to land a tuna of that size.
So why did he have the permits? That’s big money right there. I suspect it was glossed over that the tuna could only be landed in such-and-such a way.
Yeah overall NOAA is an evil organization. They constantly cook up Global Warming bullshit studies, as well as studies of declining fish stocks and toxic effects of various industry. They do this simply so their budget will be bigger next year, and they know if they told the truth people would be laid off as there is no need for a massive agency looking at a sustainable resource.
I’m glad I give mice cancer now. At least I know I’m doing good!
