Tuna & Environmentalist...

Blackfin Tuna (Click on photos)

The Florida Keys is a very unique Sportfishing environment for it is possible to catch many different species of fish on a single day trip as well as the many different "seasons" each year. When the water gets cooler the Blackfin Tuna make their way thru the area on their migration and these are some incredible fish when caught on light tackle and very good eating...

The Sportfishing boat that I worked on was operated by Capt. Jim Sharpe who has fished in the Florida Keys for 30+ years and knows the area and fish species well. Capt. Sharpe also operates a tackle store and a weekly radio show that talks about sportfishing and recent catches... He also did a 2 minute morning radio remote that would talk about what the fishing conditions were and what we would be looking for that day...

In the 5+ years that I had the privilege to fish with Capt. Sharpe there were many great tuna seasons and it was a fish that I always looked forward to. During this season we would talk about the catch on the radio show and would go indepth on how the fish was caught, it's habits, and the environment that the fish lived in... Blackfin Tuna would usually get up to about 30-35lbs. and are not usually sold as a commercial fish for they did not command a great price. They are caught by "Line & Tackle" (Fishing Poles) and are usually found under birds that are working the baitfish on the surface...

There were several occasions where people would hear about the Tuna catch on the radio and meet us when we got back to the dock from a days fishing. I can recall at least 2 times where "Environmentalist" would meet us at the dock to condemn us for fishing Tuna and endangering Dolphin (Mammels, Flipper Dolphin) while fishing for the tuna. I specifically recall one time where a lady pulled up to the boat, got out, and asked if we were the boat that were catching tuna that day. She then asked which of the fish caught and displayed next to the boat was the tuna at which time I pointed out from the other species caught that day. She them went into a rant on how we were Killing Dolphin (Mammal) when fishing for the tuna. I attempted to inform her that this was a different species and in fact caught in a completely different ocean from the tuna she was thinking about. I informed her that the tuna we caught were caught on line & tackle and there were no dolphin in the area at anytime. Unfortunately this lady had only heard and believed what she wanted from the environmental groups and that all fishermen were "evil card-carrying Halliburton" people and did not care a bit about the Dolphin or environment... After explaining to her that these were different fish and caught in a different manner she did acknowledge that she may have been "Mistaken" by which species were being caught but then left after saying "You would probably kill the other ones if they were here"...

It always amazed me when we had people on the boat who grew up in the mid-west and it was their first time on the ocean or even seeing the ocean. I would talk with these people and there were times where they had pre-set facts in their minds that there was massive over-fishing going on everywhere and that any fish we caught was sure to push the species to extinction...

The "Marketing" programs by the environmental groups are impressive and work well at times. It was interesting to talk with these people and show them that each environment is different and unique...

"Go catch your own fish"...

Dolphin, Mahi-mahi, Dorado, Coryphaena hippurus...

Here is a good one for you... It's cheaper to get the one from Peru...

A few years back I lived in Key West Florida and worked on a Sportfishing Charter boat that took people out fishing in the Florida Straits for day trips. The photo above is of a female Dolphin fish that is also known as Mahi-mahi, Dorado, and numerous other names depending on your location and what ocean you were in... Dolphin is a very fast growing fish and is also very good eating. The Florida Keys has become a popular place for tourist to escape to and get in some fishing and great dining in town. Key West has some incredible restaurants with all the "fresh" seafood you could ever want...

An interesting fact was that times during the year I could fish during the day catching all of the Dolphin we want and then stop by the supermarket on the way home only to find foreign caught fish for sale. Many times I would catch an outstanding fish like the one above only to find Dolphin in the fish section that was from Peru or some other country thousands of miles away.

One of the main factors to this was that a charterboat had to maintain the proper licenses and permits to be able to catch and sell the fish caught during the trip. There were days where I saw the price of fresh Dolphin as low as $.40 a pound and many commercial boats could not pay fuel to go out fishing. The fish caught also had to be maintained at a cold temperature and was inspected at the fish house before sale. The Charterboat also had to report catche's for there were also quota's that once reached the season would be closed. All of these restrictions made it possible for the local supermarket in Key West, surrounded by water and some of the best fishing in the Atlantic, offer Dolphin from Peru cheaper then that caught 5 miles offshore...

It was interesting to see that there were so many restrictions on American fishermen who abided by the rules only to be undersold by countries that operated under very few restrictions let alone few inspections.

"How 'bout we give you $140,000"...

Assembly Line

Last week the news came out that GM General Motors has offered up to 130,000 employees to “Buy” them out of their jobs for $140,000 each. Now the calculator on my desk will not calculate the total dollar amount of that buyout without giving me an “error” message on the screen, but I am sure one of you visitors will post the correct amount in a reply. The guys over at IBD (Investors Business Daily) did provide some other information as to how GM has gotten themselves into this situation. Great paper, you need to start getting this paper just for the facts that are not provided by many “Media outlets”.

It seems that GM has been losing a good amount of money over the years and in fact it is reported that they lost $10.6 Billion last year alone. Now this has been a long time coming and in fact GM has lost market share from 50% in the 1950’s to just barely 24% now. There have been many factors to this decline and it is interesting to look at them. Remember back during the 1970’s energy shortage and there was a mass move to smaller vehicles made in Japan and the likes for their MPG was much greater? GM and many of the U.S. Automakers responded somewhat but they still lost market share over the years. The problem is not totally the selection of vehicles they produced, it is the deals they made over the years with the Auto Worker’s unions. It is also estimated that GM is losing over $25 million dollars a day at it’s present rate. Now over the years GM made benefit deals with the union that are now coming due and pretty much puts the company in “Dire Straits”. Many of these deals were made for the “bills would be due later” and worry about it then. Well its time. GM is currently paying out almost $800 million a year to workers the company has laid off and this is almost at full pay and including full benefits for no work produced. GM is also operating under health care liabilities totaling almost $75 billion dollars and that does not include the pension plans.

Now Unions were needed in the past but there is a reason why the membership has dropped off to almost only 12% of the workforce now and most of those are government workers. Many companies have moved their operations to the southern U.S. where there are less unions and also out of the country to avoid unions altogether. GM once employed 520,000+ employees in the 1970’s and now just a fraction of that number. GM is not the only U.S. automaker with this problem, look at Ford, the company stock is now at $6 a share…

It is not always the evil top management people who takes the lion’s share of the profits. It appears everybody had their hands in the pot on this one…