 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Life Aboard Ship, Dispatches From South of the "Roaring Forties"
|
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
16:20 EST, 58.0 S, 60 07.5 W
We retrieved all our traps (six, in two strings of three each)
that were set in 500m (1625 ft.) of water. They were pretty successful,
probably because we prevented larger critters from getting to the
bait. We got six toothfish (otherwise called Chilean sea bass,
but they are not bass nor even close relatives). Some of them are
relatively big (more than three feet), but considering that toothfish
reach over two meters (6+ ft.) length and 400 pounds, these are
small guys! We have tanks to keep them alive (see photo) and are
using them to obtain specimens of tissues. We sacrificed one last
night. Virtually all of the organs were used for experiments or
study by different research groups. The brain, intestine, heart,
blood, spleen, pancreas, kidney, muscle, gills, testes, and other
parts were all dissected immediately after the fish was killed.
There is a very valuable, widespread fishery for them, and they
are heavily exploited. One of the problems in managing this fishery
is that it's not only international (Chilean, Falkland = UK,
Antarctic, Argentine, and South African waters) which makes it
hard to have similar regulations and coordinate fishing controls,
and very widespread, which makes it difficult to patrol adequately,
but it's also partly in international waters where there is little
authority controlling fishing. There are also "pirate" trawlers
that operate illegally in national waters of these countries.
Despite the best efforts of the nations involved (and they are
increasing), the toothfish is considered overfished and appears
frequently on environmentally friendly "do not eat" lists. As I write this we are not far south of the Falklands, fishing
a Blake trawl, which is a small relatively damage-proof steel-frame
trawl. Ours is about four feet wide. Because of its toughness
we are using it as an exploratory net before we do anything else,
hoping to minimize damage and loss of our other more fragile
(and larger) nets. This is the second tow at this location; the
first one worked well and caught some interesting critters, so
we are making a second. Weather today is pretty sloppy (winds
around 30 knots). We are going to set the traps again, but the
slop will have to come down before the skipper will agree to
recover them. It's a risk - we may have to abandon them if the
weather isn't better by Sunday. I wish I could send more photos, because we really are doing
many interesting things. The problem is that we have limited
e-mail (via satellite, three times a day) and no internet at
all. When the cruise started we were all given a total e-mail
budget for the cruise, and if I send too many photos, it will
disappear before the end and I will be presented with a bill
before I leave the ship in Capetown.
Toothfish are predators. They get their name from their impressive
array of teeth. They eat other fish and squid, and are what we
could call lie-in-wait predators. That is, they sit on the bottom
and wait for some unsuspecting prey to come within striking or
chasing distance. I think that not much gets away once it's bitten.
Like most fish, they have only canine teeth, and cannot bite
off pieces of flesh but either swallow prey whole or (if it's
really too large) twist off pieces.
Three fairly small (3 ft) toothfish are kept alive aboard the NATHANIEL B. PALMER. Better known in the U.S. as Chilean Sea Bass, these sharp-toothed predators can grow to over 6 ft. long and weigh more 400 lbs.
BoatUS : my.BoatUS : Membership : Boat Insurance : Towing Services : Boat Loans
Online Store : Boat Graphics : Classifieds : Site Map : Contact Us
©2008, Boat Owners Association of The United States. All Rights Reserved.
