First Boat Trip!
Hi everyone, yes that’s right I have finally done my first trip out. Actually I have done two. The first was only 36hrs long as the hydraulic engine which drives the winches died. 
So it was back to port after only two tows of the net. We go out again a day later and were out for 6 days. The first two days were wild, 20-25knots gusting to 35knots and 15-20ft breaking seas. Then it calmed down to some beautiful days. Have you noticed most photos from boat trips show good weather, that’s because when you are just trying to stay on you feet the last thing you are thinking about is taking pictures. So sorry about that.
Anyway I had a blast, well especially the second trip,
the first I was not feeling to well, and regularly feeding the fish if you catch my drift. But despite the bad weather on the second trip I felt great.
We caught lots of fish, about 60 000lbs actually which is pretty average, and I was impressed that we only discarded about 3000lbs, or 5% which was great. Just so you all know that’s my job, to record the weight of the species being discarded so accurate population estimates can be calculated.
What this actually means is wadding through ten thousand pounds of fish at a time and pulling everything out that the boat does not want, organizing to species, and then counting the individuals and weighing them. This takes about 2-3 hours to do per tow and the net is towed for about 5 hours. This goes on 24hrs a day, so the down time after sorting and before the net comes up again is the time for eating and sleeping, and let me tell you it really messes with you after a few days.
So I am back now, but guess what, I go out again tonight, yes that’s right a total of 11 hours of land time, this is unusual but hey its all part of the game. So I will be back again Saturday night, and may have some more stories to tell.
Until then I want some sleep!
So it was back to port after only two tows of the net. We go out again a day later and were out for 6 days. The first two days were wild, 20-25knots gusting to 35knots and 15-20ft breaking seas. Then it calmed down to some beautiful days. Have you noticed most photos from boat trips show good weather, that’s because when you are just trying to stay on you feet the last thing you are thinking about is taking pictures. So sorry about that.Anyway I had a blast, well especially the second trip,
the first I was not feeling to well, and regularly feeding the fish if you catch my drift. But despite the bad weather on the second trip I felt great.We caught lots of fish, about 60 000lbs actually which is pretty average, and I was impressed that we only discarded about 3000lbs, or 5% which was great. Just so you all know that’s my job, to record the weight of the species being discarded so accurate population estimates can be calculated.
What this actually means is wadding through ten thousand pounds of fish at a time and pulling everything out that the boat does not want, organizing to species, and then counting the individuals and weighing them. This takes about 2-3 hours to do per tow and the net is towed for about 5 hours. This goes on 24hrs a day, so the down time after sorting and before the net comes up again is the time for eating and sleeping, and let me tell you it really messes with you after a few days.
So I am back now, but guess what, I go out again tonight, yes that’s right a total of 11 hours of land time, this is unusual but hey its all part of the game. So I will be back again Saturday night, and may have some more stories to tell.Until then I want some sleep!
posted by Shaun at 4:46 PM
