P2
Next Dive Club Outing:
Mendocino Headland's Little house
(the place is currently full but we're working on extra lodging space)
In Other Ocean News:
Blue Whale at Fort Bragg
Whale workers unfazed by overpowering stench
A bone-chilling wind Tuesday carried the putrid odor of decomposition up a gulch near Fort Bragg where scientists, students and volunteers continued the daunting task of slicing up a massive blue whale and preparing it for burial. Volunteers from Humboldt State and the community cut up a 70 ft. blue whale killed in an open ocean collision with a research ship last week. The whale washed up just south of Ft. Bragg.
The overpowering odor grew exponentially in the early afternoon when workers cut into the gargantuan belly, spilling a mountain of white intestines onto the rocky shore. It grew again when they cut into the intestine to examine its contents.
"I'll never eat bockwurst again," said one observer.It's was still unclear Tuesday afternoon how the tons of blubber would be disposed of, said Sheila Semans, a Coastal Conservancy official. She's an organizer of the mammoth effort to salvage the whale skeleton so it someday can be displayed in Fort Bragg, where it could provide educational opportunities and serve as a tourist attraction. It's hoped Fort Bragg will create a marine research center and museum in which to reassemble and display the once-majestic creature. A marine research center is one of the proposals suggested for the defunct Georgia-Pacific mill site.
DFG Department of Q & A:
Everyone Partyboat Fishing May Be Cited
Question:
If we are on a party boat with
30 other people and one of the anglers catches and keeps an undersized
lingcod or an overlimit of fish, can the captain be charged with the
same violation? In other words, is the captain responsible for what
people on his boat keep?
Answer:
Boat limits allow all passengers on the boat to fish past their
individual allowable bag limits to fill the overall boat quota. The
rationale is that this provides the opportunity for all passengers to
go home with fish. But the flip side is that boat limits also make
all passengers and crew responsible for the actions of each
person on the boat.
Under the ocean boat limit regulations, everybody on the vessel may
be cited for the short fish. This includes party boats where all passengers
as well as the captain and crew may be responsible for the violations
of just one person. The following two sections apply:
All persons aboard a vessel may be cited where violations involving
boat limits are found, including, but not limited to: (a) Over limits,
(b) Possession of prohibited species, (c) Violation of size limits,
and (d) Fish taken out of season or in closed areas." (CCR Title
14, Section 27.60[3])
For the vessel operator(s) and crew, they may be cited for violations
occurring aboard the vessel, including but not limited to violations
of: (a) Over limits, (b) Possession of prohibited species, (c) Violation
of size limits, and (d) Fish taken out of season or in closed areas."
(CCR Title 14, Section 195[f]).
If the culprits can be easily identified, then they may be the only
ones cited. But it's in everyone's best interest to be sure that all
passengers are abiding by the fishing regulations since everyone may
pay the price for the mistake or poor judgment of just one person.