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Next Club Outings
Sunday April 5th Stillwater Cove, Monterey
Opening of Lingcod Season
Weekend of April 11th, Mendocino Little House
Abalone Season
In Other Ocean News:
Coast Guard approves new Abalone Report Card as a TYPE III Floatation Aid
With the larger card, originally designed to assist the ocularly challenged, the US Coast Guard after extensive testing has proven the the new Ab Card able to exceed the 15.5 lbs of buoyancy required for the Type III rating.
"Damn them boys and gals in Sacto were thinking," said long-time diver Robert Sparks of ABCSTGA (Ab Baggers that Can't See Too Good Anymore). "We were hoping they would just make the type a bit bigger but they way exceeded our expectations. And now I don't have to lug around an extra life vest. In a real emergency once we hit land we could even use it to make a shelter"
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Our own Josh Haney was chosen to "rescue" DFG Spokes Model
Paris Hilton upon the certification rating introduction. On a side note
the ab card was subsequently confiscated by the Coast Guard for violating
their zero-tolerance of illegal drugs policy. Paris was merely quoted
as, "Hey, it was like that when I found it." Josh then took
a leisurely drive up the coast with her and could not be reached for comment.
The one that didn't get away: Doctor catches record 300lb marlin 'with his bare hands'
A British doctor claims to have broken a record by catching a giant 300lb marlin - without using a rod and line. Titus Bradley speared the giant on a fishing trip off Ascension Island in the South Atlantic.
The 10-feet-long blue marlin is believed to be the largest caught by a British spear fisherman. Dr Bradley was 15 miles out to sea in water about 1.5 miles deep when he saw the huge fish.
He had waited for this moment for at least the last four years, when he has visited Ascension Island annually in the hope of spearing a blue marlin.
In all that time he has spotted just eight of the species.
Dr Bradley, who lives with wife Lucy and their 18-month-old son Riffe in Portesham, Dorset, and works in nearby Weymouth, said: 'It was about 10 feet in length including the sword.
'They are very intimidating animals - very big and aggressive with a big sword. They can do about 50mph in the water.'
He added: 'It was only when I was back in the boat that I realised what I'd done.'
He has been spear fishing since childhood and is a member of the London International spear fishing club, whose members do not use air tanks but must dive while holding their breath
The fish was divided among islanders as well as friends and family - and was 'absolutely delicious', Dr Bradley said.
RUSSIA has banned the hunting of baby harp seals after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticised the "bloody practice", the natural resources ministry says.
"We have decided to ban the hunting of harp seals aged under one year,'' the ministry said in a statement, after an earlier ruling in February banned hunting seals aged less than a month in response to comments by Mr Putin.
"This bloody hunting is from now on banned in our country as in most developed countries. This is an important measure to preserve Russia's biodiversity,'' said Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev.
Prized for their snow-white fur, harp seals are hunted off the coasts of Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia.
Their numbers in Greenland and Russia have declined by 60 per cent in the last five years, reaching 120,000 in 2008 compared to 330,000 in 2003, according to the Russian branch of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.