Shishaw Brothers

On one of my last afternoons on Sao Jorge, with the junkyard crew busy with their various tasks, I wandered down the road. The scene was fairly normal, and since Paul was busy using his only welder I was left to either invent a wrenching project or be a superfluous assistant. I chose option C: to head down the road, with no particular plan. Road adventures in Sao Jorge seem to have a few consistent characteristics: beautiful scenery. Really, REALLY crazy drivers treating their Toyotas like Monte Carlos and the twisting road like a race course, comfortable assuming that there’s nothing around the blind corner just ahead and so taking it hard to the inside. Cows young and old in their stark binary robes, pondering something, maybe. Loud, mean dogs in the front yards of whitewashed stone houses, the homes of quiet, friendly Azorean folks.

This particular sunny day, a grin and a waive were more than enough to prompt several people to call me into their yards to enjoy say hello. I did my best to pretend like I was on a mission, some goal-oriented quest, but I should know better trying to fool those drinking the truth serum. I returned to home base (the junkyard), but only after several pieces of homemade candy, sampling various local fruits, and, of course, a Sagres or two.

Back among the piled up cars, Paul was looking for me. “Americano ducarayo!” (My fond nickname, not worth translating.) “Vai por peixe aghora!”

I liked the sound of those words. Time to go fishing. It was not Paul himself who was going out, but Paul had let all his buddies know that the American wanted to go fishing. A friend of his had called from Velas, boat leaving as soon as I could get down there.

I promised a beer in exchange for a ride down the hill from the junkyard regular I’ve nicknamed the Jolly Friar. As dusk rolled in reluctantly, I scrambled to the dock, which in Velas nothing more than a big cement pad that runs up to the water’s edge, serviced by a picking crane but directly exposed to any swell from the west. Here, most of the boats are pulled out of the water between use, because there’s no decent harbor for the small commercial fleet. Three small boats were nosing away from the crappy harbor, but one boat, upon seeing the truck pull up, swung back towards the dock.

Salvador and August are the rare type of brothers that get along very well with each other. The brothers have one of the three boats that make up the nighttime shishaw fishery of Velas. Unlike the other two boats, which are heavy-ribbed wooden double-enders powered by small center-mounted diesels, the brothers’ boat is a compact five and a third meters, fiberglass, built by Paul, and pushed around by a 115 horsepower four-stroke outboard. Gear on board consisted of one large dipnet, a galvanized meat grinder bolted to the seat, a fish finder, an insulated tote mounted in the middle of the boat, and a deep cycle car battery wired to a panel light mounted to the starboard rail, facing out into the water. Nice, simple fishing gear!

With August at the wheel, Salvador dropped the pick in exactly 156 feet of water and then took up residence along the starboard rail. We were only a half-mile from the harbor. The brothers were jovial and at ease, happy to explain their work to me, and both seemed like sharp tacks. There was still traces of light to be had at 9:10pm. A small but confused swell form the northwest kept the bobber of a boat on its toes. Gulls of some sort make a wild racket just after dark, singing out “Gurl! Gurl! Gurl!” towards the horizon.

August showed me the technicolor blob hugging the bottom of the fishfinder screen. “Shishaw,” he said. “Shishaw e cavala.” [note: opinions on how to spell “shishaw” varied greatly around Velas, so I chose this one, until further corrected.]

The two fish targeted by this niche fishery look very similar to the untrained eye. They show up together, and are both have smallish fusiform bodies with slightly oversized pectoral fins. Shishaw, I was told, appear more blue in the water. These fish are sold in town. Cavala are very similar to tinker mackerel in appearance, a skinny relative of tuna, but on the island have no real market value. Since the two species are caught together and separating them in the dark is a hard task, cavala are also kept, and are certainly not wasted. My impression is that the cavala are given away to neighbors, traded for small favors, sometimes sold to longliners to be used for bait, and thrown into the fishermen’s own frying pans.

As light faded above the water line and the panel light broadcast an artificial sun into the water’s depths, the colored blob of fish on the fishfinder rose towards the surface. The fish all seemed to be in agreement, because the blob moved quickly. In short order quick light sabers flashed through the water just below the surface, silver-blue streaks in the blue-black water. August and I took turns making a fresh sardine puree with the grinder, and Salvador tossed bits of this chum in front of the light’s beam. Off the starboard, the festival of lights intensified steadily, some fish flashing slightly more blue than their neighbors. Salvador would keep a steady sampling of food bits in the water, and would follow a bigger pulse of chum with a well-practiced dipping motion with the big dipnet. Over the rail and into the tote came a kilogram of 10-inch fish. Later in the evening, each dip yielded two or three times this.

The fish tote, packed to the gills, fits 200 kilograms of fish. The brothers call it quits for a night when they have around this much. They’re not limited to this amount by any regulation, but have just decided that this is the amount of fresh shishaw that Velas can use. Weather permiting, they’re out fishing six days a week. The time it takes to fill the tote varies, and sometimes they end up fishing all night and into the light of the next day. A nice catch is around 140 kilograms shishaw, of the 200 total.

This night the shishaw-cavala ratio was only about 1:1, but the fishing was fast and furious. In what seemed like no time, the tote was full and Salvador had another 30 kilograms spilled onto the deck. Time to head ’er in. A bucket full of sardines and some battery power had been converted into a third of a ton of fish.

Tied up to the cement dock, the next task was to sort shishaw from cavala. Without much for light, this was about like sorting pennies from nickels, blindfolded. It turns out, although I can’t call it a fortunate characteristic, that sheshaw have a sharp spine on their dorsal. Stick your hand into a pile of fish, and the ones that prick are sheshaw. But that test gets old fast.

Night and day, a crowd of folks keeps an eye on the boat landing pad, and the crowd converges on any new arrival. Here on Sao Jorge, to my delight, I didn’t have to justify my desire to go out on fishing boats. I could see a wistful gaze in the older men, the businessmen, and even the maritime police that converged on newly arrived fishing boats, an attraction almost as intense as the light for the sheshaw. It seems to me that here in Velas, where the only supermarket has a pervasive smell of fish throughout, those standing dockside are silently wishing they were on the other side of the oilskins.

The Junkyard Gang

Around Sao Jorge, wind from any direction is something for fishermen to take into account. The Azores are really nothing more than a few tiny bumps of green poking out of the middle in the big Atlantic pond. Although April is considerably nicer than May, and the bulk of the fishing craze coincides with warmer temperatures and calmer breezes. This is June through September- tuna time- where frenzied fishermen chase frenzied albacore. Football-sized torpedos with fins are caught by chumming the waters, then dropping a big barbless hook into the boil, attached to a cane pole just like a big version of the one your great-great grandfather used for trout back in the good ol’ days.

This is only exciting hearsay, as far as I’m concerned- a teaser for you and me- although I can’t wait to take Paul up on his invitation to come back another year to crew during the peak of the tuna run, on a new boat he has in the works. Before tuna, Paul and his crew put the Familia to work lobstering. But before that, it’s trap-making time.

The glorious life of a fisherman doesn’t start or end on the water, or even with dealing with the boat. The time-consuming gear work is quickly forgotten or optimistically overlooked when calculating how fast a deckhand makes his or her money, and similarly gear expenses are often the troughs where a skipper dumps all his so-called profits. Is this what the business world calls capital investment strategy? Fishermen probably call it survival.

While the wind blew steadily from one direction or another, this junkyard gang was my crowd, and Paul was a hands-off welding mentor, for the most part letting me figure it out on my own. Through trial and error, mostly error, I got a basic handle on how to spot weld with the shop’s tempermental machine, and only flashed my eyes a couple of times in the first day or so. The task was churn out around seventy new lobster traps, made by bending and welding nine individual pieces of half-inch rebar into a lobster trap frame. Chico, Mario, and Joseph would then take funnels, made of plastic buckets with the bottoms cut out, they’d cut plastic fencing material for the trap walls, and would lash together a complete trap. Each trap, start to finish, took around three hours of work. The somewhat more evolved Maine lobster trap has entrance funnels, two “rooms” within with a narrowing walkway connecting the two, escape slots, and hinged lids. Paul’s spartan design, in comparison is basically an open cage with a tapering hole in the top. Stick some bait in and drop the trap to the bottom. Maine’s high-tech pots don’t outsmart the lobster anyway- observation has shown that a significant majority of the lobster that enter a trap eat and exit before the trap is hauled- so Paul’s pots are probably just the ticket. Lobster trap are more like lobsters kitchens- the trick is to pull the pot when it's dinnertime.

Paul is a remarkable example of a well-rounded fisherman. He’s adept with wrenching, (fiber)glasswork, and wielding a welding torch, on top of all the navigation skills that come in handy when away from terra firma. His shop, a few kilometers up the hill from Velas, is home to all sort of projects, is the stomping ground for all sorts of scallywags and riffraff. Paul seems to be the regional consultant on all matters of maritime mishap. Nearly every dat I've been hanging around his shop, he’s dropped his own projects to give a hand to a friend who’s stopped by. The shop is the nucleus of an auto junkyard, which is a steady source for all sorts of odd nuts, bolts, and scrap metal, and masculine procrastination. What a place!

The junkyard regulars are an eclectic group. Master Eduardo, Paul’s dad, spends at last half of each day piling partially crushed cars on top of each over with a bucketloader, playing a giant game of car wreck Tetris. His game plan leaves me confused. Maybe he’s really playing Jenga because some of his teetering piles seem to go straight up. Master Antonio, a German by descent, is a talented alcoholic who has yet to let his reputed welding prowess poke through his passion for the booze and butts. He’s a pleasant guy to be around, despite being no model for productivity. Ricardo is a massive guy, tall and strong and with a fitting deep laugh, so loud that hurts the ears if you’re with him in any confined space. He’s working hard on restoring a 40-foot hulk of steel, a boat something like a Coast Guard cutter, an endless welding project and constant fight against rust. There’s an old-looking young guy I’ve nicknamed the Jolly Friar, on account of his goofy grin and donut of remaining hair, who seems to have plenty of mechanical skills but is more content being Master Eduardo’s assistant in the mysterious car shuttle. A half dozen other cats stop by on a regular basis, mostly men in their 40’s with an itch to escape their wives and work for a while and join in the junkyard fraternity.

For reasons I can’t fathom, conversations between the men are intense, loud, and full of wild hand gestures. Ordinary events, like weather or a neighbor’s new car are described as if the man had just been an eyewitness to a train robbery, or like he’d walked out his door and discovered a lion screwing a tiger in his front lawn. This Azorean flair for creating intensity out of the mundane still hasn’t ceased to amaze me, although usually the only phrase I can pull out of the tumble is “fila de puta!”…

See What All the States From Here to Texas Have Done to Protect the Spotted Sea Trout and the Red Drum!!

Go to this link and take a look!... www.ncgamefishact.blogspot.com

Sound bites

Here's a low-budget experimentation in a different mode. Unfortunately I haven't landed as many decent sound clips as I would have liked, because boat engine rumblings tend to dominate the sound. I'll eventually get around to assembling the good clips into an audio piece or two. Whoever edited this piece here has some really low quality standards...

Fishynomics

Velas, Sao Jorge, Portuguese Açores
Targeted fish: lula (squid), cherne (grouper), congro (conger eel), goraz, peixão, safio, rinquim (blue shark, marketed as mako for some reason), boca negra, abrotea, cantaro bagre, peixe espada branco (white spadefish), king mackerel, atum (tuna- albacore, yellowfin, bluefin), langosta (lobster)
Fishing methods: Açorean-style hook and line- longlining, jigging, trolling, bamboo rod, stout line, and big barbless hook used to catch frenzied tuna; lobster trap
Footwear: rubber boots, mostly from Dunlop
Favorite local sayings: “Wea-pa!” (“What’s up?”)
Local food: Fish is big. Dairy products from the islands are big. Lots of breads, potatoes, and Portuguese sausage.
Drink of choice: red wine. Sagres and Super Bock beer.
Local entertainment: working on boats, tinkering on engines, evading Portuguese beaurocracy
Local music: Folk music with great duets and trios of stringed instruments. More to come on Açorean music.
Select Local Fishing Boats: Maria Gorete, Debora Christina, Filipe, Familia Terras, Simao Pedro, Iris, Sidonio, Baia de Velas, Pinguin, Aguia, Maria Barbara, Oriana
___________________________________________________________________________________

The system of buying and selling fish here on Sao Jorge is worth mentioning. The price of fish is something which fishermen only have partial control over. Market demand is a finicky thing, and depends on a host of logical and illogical indirect factors. When fishing, it seems best to not be concerned with factors outside of your control (aquaculture conditions on salmon farms in Chile, or the value of the yen vs. the dollar) and to focus on things you can control (delivering fresh fish and keeping your engine running well).

Here on Sao Jorge, fisherman meticulously ice their catch and sort them by species and size. On any given day, assuming there’s an offload of sufficient size, a silent auction is held. Fish are all brought in from the dock, and trays of fish are weighed and ranked. Interested parties- buyers and the fishermen- show up at an agreed upon time, pick up a remote control device, and watch a monitor, where a certain tray goes up for sale, with an advertised price per kilogram. The price drops until someone presses the “buy” button, or if fishermen become unhappy with the low price, they can choose to keep the catch for themselves.

Quite an ordered and high-tech system for such a small-scale fishery! Here there isn’t even a harbor for fishing boats (no good protection from the weather), and boats need to be hauled out of the water between trips. I suppose, though, that even though many communities in Alaska have established harbors, bigger fleets, and larger harvests, fishing in Portugal and specifically here in the Açores had been going on for many centuries before any commercial fisheries in Alaska were conceived. These Açoreans have figured out a good system of selling fish. No secret or buddy deals here.

With Paul, I had the chance to sit in on one of these auctions. Mustached men in white rubber boots shuffled fish around. These same buyers and fishermen in this tiny community of 2,000 must have gone through the same process hundred, if no thousands, of times. The mind games and poker strategies used could be intense. But if there was any rivalry, I couldn’t sense it. The men joked and laughed, and several in the crowd seemed to just be around to take in the scene. The arrival or departure of a boat, any interesting, rare, or big fish, and any foreign stowaway seems to attract a curious crowd.

This particular day in Velas, conger eel sold for around 4€/kilo (one Euro these days is something around $1.33 US), peixão sold for 5€/kilo, spadefish sold for a meager 1€/kilo, large squid went for 3.50€/kilo, and the prized cherne garnered just under 9€/kilo on average. All for on-island consumption. I only mention these details to compare them to recent Alaskan (ex-vessel) fish prices: roughly 7€/kilo for halibut, 1.50€/kilo for sockeye salmon, and 0.50€/kilo for pink salmon. I myself would even take a humpy over a spadefish to eat, but the market decides what it values, and transport expenses factor in. Go figure.

Delivering logistics

The Jakarta Post | Wed, 04/08/2009 4:32 PM

Workers in tourist island, Lombok, load boxes that will be used as vote containers in the upcoming general elections on Thursday in Gili Meno Village. (Antara/Budi Afandi)

Related Article:

Four Floating Voting Stations at Seribu islands

41 illegal ports in Batam make way for illegal entry: Authorities

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 04/08/2009 7:21 PM

Illegal ports have provided means for illegal immigrants to enter Indonesia, immigration director general Basyir Ahmad Barmawi said on Wednesday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

According to reports there are 41 illegal ports in Batam. These have been used not only by smugglers but also human traffickers, particularly from abroad.

"We will deal with illegal immigrants with the help of various other institutions," Batam administration officer I Wayan Subawa said.

Illegal immigrants come under the authority of the Foreign Ministry. (amr)

Eximbank restructures $88m loans to PT PAL

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 04/06/2009 8:32 PM

Indonesia’s Export Import Bank (BEI) signed a deal to restructure its troubled Rp 1 trillion (US$88 million) loan owed by ailing state shipyard company PT PAL on Monday to help keep the company afloat.

“Our loans to PAL almost reached the maximum limit of disbursed credits, or 25 percent of our total equity which stands at Rp 4.3 trillion,” BEI president director Arifin Indra said on Monday.

He said the bank would still support PAL despite their weak condition by restructuring some of their loan requirements.

“The bank is only restructuring the loans related to working capital for the construction of vessels that are still 25 percent finished,” he said.

PAL has been in financial trouble since it received a contract for the construction of 20 vessels in 2006.

As costs of ship construction soared since then, PT PAL could not cover the increased full production costs and now, the company still has 18 unfinished orders.

The unfinished projects include the building of two vessels ordered by the Navy, four escort tugs worth $6.5 million each ordered by energy company BP Plc and three 38-meter boats ordered by the customs and excise agency.

There is another order for a 50,000 dead weight ton (DWT) vessels ordered by a Turkish private company.

PT PAL also has orders from Italian companies for a tanker with a capacity of 24,000 tons and two tankers with a capacity of 6,000 tons each.

RI urged to put an end to illegal, unreported fishing

BeritaSore, Sen, Apr 6, 2009

In the runup to the upcoming World Ocean Conference (WOC) in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia has been urged to make use of the event to ask other countries to stop illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing.

“The government should be able to make use of the opportunity to secure a commitment against IUU fishing,” secretary general of the People’s Coalition for Fishery Justice (Kiara), Riza Damanik, said in a press briefing in connection with the WOC here on Friday. Riza said the government had to abandon its risky diplomacy of expecting aid funds for the rehabilitation of coral reefs to fight global warming. The government, Riza said, needs to act wisely by making use of the WOC in Manado on May 11-15 2009 to demand 10 countries to stop poaching in Indonesia.

In the past 10 years foreign fishing vessels from 10 countries had been poaching in Indonesian waters. Those countries included Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Korea, China, Taiwan, Panama, Myanmar and Malaysia.”The crisis in our seas is related to crimes committed in the seas. Because of illegal fishing we have lost 50 percent of our marine resources,” Reza said. The chairman of the Anti-Debt Coalition, Dani Setiawan, meanwhile, said Indonesia must be able to control its territorial sea.

It means, he said, Indonesia must not use the WOC to seek loans because it is feared they would make the country to lose its control of its sea. The director general of supervision and control of marine resources and fishery, Aji Sularso, said earlier that most vessels conducted illegal fishing in the country’s waters so far came from Vietnam.

He said however that it was Thailand that had exploited most of Indonesian fishery resources. He said Thailand already had a had strong network in the country. Earlier, former Minister of Maritime Exploration sSarwono Kusumaatmadja said illegal fishing by foreigners in Indonesian waters had cost the country an estimated US$4 billion in revenue every year.

Sarwono noted that the foreigners were getting more of Indonesia’s maritime resources than Indonesians themselves, while this country itself only earned some US$2.2 billion from its fishing sector.

“It’s our water and fish, but we ourselves are losing. It’s ridiculous, he said, adding that illegal fishing activities were mostly committed by foreign poachers from the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and China and some other neighboring countries that had no cooperation agreement with the government of Indonesia.

In fact, the poachers often used high technology in fishing, causing difficulty to Indonesian patrol boats to detect their presence. More tragic is that the poachers have shown no fear of Indonesian patrols, who are either outnumbered or poorly armed, director general of monitoring and control at the marine and fishery ministry, Aji Sularso, said earlier.

“The illegal fishermen show no respect for our national law. The shoot-and-sink policy will be part of a show of force to deter them,” he said. Aji said illegal fishing had become out of control, as it was “threatening Indonesia’s economic and territorial sovereignty”.

Under the Indonesian fishery Law No. 31/2004 on fisheries, the ministry’s patrol guards are authorized to carry guns. But in particular, the law concerned is designed to accommodate the needs and challenges of developing the fishing industry and to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal fishing.

The Indonesian government has been criticized for being “too lenient” in releasing and allowing Filipino fishermen to repatriate and reunite with their families. They would usually give one of two reasons, either citing humanitarian reasons or a lack of funds to provide basic needs and shelter. In addition, hundreds of confiscated foreign-flagged fishing vessels are now crowding dozens of seaports across Indonesia.

They are corroding, if not sinking and already wrecked, while waiting for legal processing, which could take years to complete. But no specific budget has been allocated for their maintenance.

Indonesia, which loses US$4 billion a year to poaching, is desperate to beef up its fishery patrol fleet, which currently consists of only 21 vessels. Securing the fishing boats could at least reduce the losses the country suffers.

Last year the government established five ad hoc fishery courts in Jakarta, Medan (North Sumatra), Pontianak, Tual island in Maluku and Bitung (North Sulawesi) in a bid to cut short the prolonged legal process against poachers, particularly those from overseas.

However, the ad hoc courts do not help achieve the goal as law enforcers are often divided over how to settle poaching cases. Maintaining this policy would risk Indonesia’s interest, not only will it send the wrong message on how Indonesia upholds the law, but it could also lead to an increase in the frequency of IUU in Indonesia.

Unfortunately, until now Indonesia has not established a special committee to deal with illegal fishing cases. The government tends to rely on a sectoral approach in handling such cases. Coordination between related government agencies is weak and would not be applied on a regular basis. A fisheries court has not been established either.

Indonesia and the Philippines have established a mechanism of Joint Commission on bilateral cooperation. The two countries have also signed an MoU on Marine and Fisheries Cooperation in General Santos, the Philippines, on Feb. 23, 2006. However, the two countries have not yet established a bilateral arrangement to table particular issues of fishermen. ( ant/ Eliswan Azly )

Indonesian fishermen banned from fishing in waters borderring with Australia

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian and Australian governments will conduct a campaign to fishermen in six provinces telling them not to catch fish in the waters in the border regions of the two countries, an official said.

The fishing ban will be imposed on the waters of Indonesia`s six provinces bordering with Australian waters, Soen`an Hadi Purnomo, head of center of information and statistical data of the Marine and Fishery Ministry said here Sunday.

According to him, the fishing ban declared in a series of workshops in the six provinces East Java, Papua, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, and Maluku.

Counseling on the fishing ban will be held by the DKP jointly with the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) for sustainable fishery management in the two countries` border.

In addition, Augy Syahailatua, head of marine resources division at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said that to date, Indonesian traditional fishermen have been accustomed to fishing at the waters border.

Based on MoU Box/1974, an agreement was reached on the overlapping waters border especially at the Pulau Pasir and Pulau Baru, which become Indonesian jurisdiction over the swimming fisher management.

Meanwhile Australia has jurisdiction over sedentary fish species such as shellfish (tripang in Indonesian).

In Jakarta on March 24, some 20 fishermen and non-governmental organization (NGO) activists from South Sulawesi staged a demonstration outside the Australian Embassy, demanding compensation for fishing boats Australian authorities had burned.

"We ask for compensation for our fishing boats Australia has burned," Haeruddin, one of the fishermen, told the press here.

He said Australian authorities had confiscated and torched his boat in the southern part of Indonesia`s East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) provincial waters.

When the incident happened, his boat was still tens of miles away from the Indonesia-Australia sea border, Haeruddin added.

IOTC drops plans to limit tuna fishing

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 04/06/2009 2:59 PM

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) concluded its 13th annual meeting last week with a deal to drop a plan limiting fishing capacity, following opposition from key member countries, including Indonesia.

Indonesian delegation head Suseno Sukoyono told The Jakarta Post on Sunday the commission had decided to review the plan as members from developing countries believed it would destroy their fishing in-dustries, saying limiting catches would give little room for the industry to grow.

Suseno also said Indonesia, whose fishing industry is comprises mostly traditional fishermen, opposed the plan because it would "endanger the livelihood" of the small businesses.

"It would be detrimental should the commission apply the policy; we would be severely affected," he said.

IOTC executive secretary Alexandro Anganuzzi said during the opening of the meeting that the commission would discuss the limitation of fishing capacity with its member countries.

He added the commission had been concerned with the fact that tuna feedstock in the region was being overfished.

However, as the meeting progressed, the plan, initiated by the European Union, was strongly opposed by other countries, including Australia, which is also worried about disruptions to its fishing industry.

Australia is the IOTC member with the biggest exposure in the Indian Ocean.

Other opposing countries included Oman, Mauritius and India.

Besides delaying the catch limit policy, the meeting also agreed to postpone a plan to limit fishing fleets, as data and proposal from member countries remained incomplete.

Suseno also said it had been agreed during the meeting to retain Anganuzzi as the commission's executive director for the next three years.

"It's our strategy to protect the interests of developing countries, as Anganuzzi represents the FAO *Food and Agricultural Organization*," he said.

The IOTC is an intergovernmental organization under the auspices of the FAO. It has 28 members, including Australia, the UK, Japan and the EU representing the interests of developed UN member states, while Indonesia, Iran and India are among those representing developing ones.

Previously, there was also a proposal to discuss the possibility of the IOTC being separated from the FAO.

However, the proposal was dropped due to opposition from developing countries, Suseno said.

Indonesian representative Nilanto Prabowo said a separation from the FAO might lead to increased control of the organization by developed nations.

The IOTC manages tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean and adjoining seas, with the main objective of promoting both cooperation among members and the sustainability of tuna resources.

Indonesia is the 27th member of the IOTC.

According to the commission, the region produces more than 1 million tons of tuna annually, worth between US$3 billion and $5 billion.

Familia Affair

“Go hide in the cabin for a little bit, while we cut her loose.” Mario told me this as we were finishing loading the last of the boxes of baited longline from Paul’s truck onto the boat.

I tucked down into the boat’s sleeping quarters. From here I could feel when the boat was freed of her land leashes, and in only a few minutes we were out of the harbor. The American stowaway was free to come on deck.

There was really nothing shady going on aboard the 11-meter Familia Silveros, but as skipper Paul had explained to me, Portugal is a land full of paperwork and rules, and the Açores weren’t exempt. As seems to be common sense in most of the working world, avoiding paperwork and superfluous authorities when possible is the best option. I was grateful that Paul was willing to take me out, and fine with my role as the unofficial fifth-wheel of the boat.

Paul’s crew consisted of Mario, Chico, and Joseph, three men in their forties with plenty of sea time, as well as a little extra padding, under their belts. Paul is younger, trimmer, and taller than his crew, and I could immediately see that he was one of those die-hard fishermen whose mind rarely wanders from marine thoughts. Model boats in his house, displays of maritime knots on the wall, fishing gear of all types in every corner of his garage, several boats in various stages of life to his name on Sao Jorge, shop space to work on engines, even talk of a bigger, brand new boat in the works in mainland Portugal. The Familia Silveros could sleep three forward and at least a couple more in the cabin, and although she was now rigged for longlining, the boat, like her owner, was an eager fishing machine, and could quickly adapt for jigging, tuna fishing, or hauling lobster traps.

We left Velas at dusk, and after a ten-hour steam at a steady seven knots, passing between the picturesque islands of Pico and Faial, we reached the fishing grounds. Around 5am it was time to set the gear. This was a different longline setup than I’d ever seen, and at first seemed quite complicated. A fifty-kilogram chunk of hardened lava served as the main anchor at each end of the “ground” line, but instead of this line stretching along the sea floor (as with halibut or blackcod), this line hung about 50 meters above the bottom. Fixed to this mile or so of mainline were 140 sparlines, spaced evenly, and with a snap-swivel at the tag end. As the mainline paid out, the snap of each sparline was clipped to a 25-meter piece of stout monofilament, and along this mono, every meter or so, was attached yet another branch of monofilament, and at the end of this short piece was attached a small J-hook. At the tip of the main branch of monofilament a fist-sized rock was tied, and served as the bottom anchor for it’s respective branch. This the snap end of the monofilament, in theory, hangs at 25 meters above the bottom, and the small rock sits directly on the bottom. This fishing tree would be much more easily explained with a drawing. I’d love to see the image drawn by somebody after reading this dizzying description! The end result of this style of fishing, when set correctly, is that for a mile-long transect, the bottom 25-meters of the water column have a good number of hooks waiting in ambush, sharp barbs dressed as small chunks of salted mackerel. Somewhere around 3,500 treacherous bites per set.

All of the baiting- a considerable amount of work- had been done ahead of time by Mario, Chico, and Joseph. The 25-meter stretch of mono is essentially fixed gear in longliner jargon, and this crew was using gamelas-ingenious “flower pot” bins- to keep hooks and line in order. Order is a good thing to have when hooks are flying overboard and being pulled quickly toward the bottom by heavy rocks. Around the fringe of each shallow wooden flower pot is a rubber tab with slits cut in it. Baited hooks are placed in these slits, and then the line between hooks is coiled inside of the bin. Each bin holds four fishing “branches”, and so 100 hooks around its fringe. The three men had baited around 80 of these boxes.

As soon as the last hook was out, Paul pointed the bow towards the other end of the set. Apparently there were either hungry fish at the bottom or not, and the mackerel did not stay on the hook for long, so there was no point in letting the gear soak. Hauling was smooth and the fish coming up from 250 fathoms (one fathom equals six feet, so this is around 1500 feet) were mostly all new to my eyes. According to Paul, the day’s catch was poor. Peixão, a silvery wide-eyed perch-like fish, boca negra and cantaro bagre, two species of small orange rockfish, and peixe espada branco (white spadefish) were most common. The spadefish reflected twice the light as chrome on a new Harley, had dagger-sharp fangs, and skinny stretched bodies appropriate for their name, with tiny and seemingly useless tails at the tip of the sword. Small blue sharks and conger eels also rose on the line, and a single large cherne- the crown jewel of Açorean groundfish- a grouper prized for it’s delicate white meat. I can verify that the reverence for a plate of this fish is deserved.

Unphased with what may not have been a great haul, Paul turned his attention to jigging for the day, trying to target cherne. Each of the men mounted a jig contraption- basically a spool of wire with a crank handle and a means of adjusting the drag on the spool- along the boat’s rail. To the end of the wire they attached a section of mono with ten or so line-hook branches, and with a weight at the bottom end. Down to the bottom went the small tree of hooks, each jig basically a single vertical strand of the morning longline setup. The difference was that these strands were actively monitored from the top by Paul and his rotund crew. By dark, the jigging efforts had landed another 100 kilograms of fish, but no cherne.

We ate fish, potatoes, and wine in the dark, and dropped anchor in 280 fathoms of water, far from Pico, the nearest landmass. The next day the process was repeated, with less success. That night we ate beans and sausage and dropped the pick in 480 fathoms (2,880 feet). To me, this was more than notable- including scope, Paul had a good mile of line out between the 35-foot boat and its anchor! Here we sat in the deep blue, rocking and rolling through the night. Mario couldn’t have slept much- he insisted that I take the cabin floor instead of the bench seat, and with several big leans to starboard in the night he rolled off. (This happened exactly four times. I remember because when a guy like Mario rolls onto you, you don’t forget.)

Heading to the fishing grounds and moving between different fishing grounds, Paul would always troll a couple lines for tuna. It’s hard to imagine a fish being speedy enough to hammer a lure zipping along at seven knots, but tuna have no problem. Even when targeting groundfish, Paul’s eyes were always scanning the surface, looking for fishy waters- a flock of gulls, jumping baitfish, a different look to the water than experienced eyes like his can read. The tuna seemed to be somewhere else these days, but as we steamed back towards Sao Jorge, past the perfect volcanic cone on Pico, the trolling continued.

The crew and Paul seem especially welcoming to a guy they just met a few days before. There was a distinct absence of the tough-guy fishing attitude. Mario speaks English well although rarely chooses to use it, and at some point in his past lived and fished in southern California for 17 years (A man in town told me he left after getting shot in the leg. Mario never mentioned this small detail. Part of the mystery.) He insisted on lending me an extra pair of socks, so that I wouldn’t have to put on wet ones in the morning. Chico’s voice is as animated as any cartoon character, with all sorts of non-verbal tones adding to his side of any conversation. Even in a country where it seems like every conversation is filled with volume and energy- normal conversations here seem to have the suspense of a fight or an emergency to a foreign ear- Chico stands out. (He also promises to kill me if I make any advances on his daughter, which I have no intention of doing, but which the rest of the crew keeps encouraging.) Joseph is all smiles under his thick mustache, and seems to take great pleasure in asking his “Amigo Americano!” a long question in rapid Portuguese and then cutting into any possible response with a rolling laugh. Paul made it clear throughout that he was happy to have me along, and insisted on giving having me over for dinner before and after the trip. Good guys, these Açoreans, and hard workers. Although I still had to go below when heading into port, I felt like part of the Familia.

An Antarctic ice shelf has disappeared: scientists

Reuters, Sat Apr 4, 2009 7:06pm EDT

A view of the leading edge of the remaining part of the Larsen B ice shelf that extends into the northwest part of the Weddell Sea is seen in this handout photo taken on March 4, 2008.(REUTERS/Mariano Caravaca/Handout)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One Antarctic ice shelf has quickly vanished, another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought due to climate change, U.S. and British government researchers reported on Friday.

They said the Wordie Ice Shelf, which had been disintegrating since the 1960s, is gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists. More than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km) have broken off from the Larsen shelf since 1986.

Climate change is to blame, according to the report from the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey, available at pubs.usgs.gov/imap/2600/B.

"The rapid retreat of glaciers there demonstrates once again the profound effects our planet is already experiencing -- more rapidly than previously known -- as a consequence of climate change," U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement.

"This continued and often significant glacier retreat is a wakeup call that change is happening ... and we need to be prepared," USGS glaciologist Jane Ferrigno, who led the Antarctica study, said in a statement.

"Antarctica is of special interest because it holds an estimated 91 percent of the Earth's glacier volume, and change anywhere in the ice sheet poses significant hazards to society," she said.

In another report published in the journal Geophysical Letters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that ice is melting much more rapidly than expected in the Arctic as well, based on new computer analyses and recent ice measurements.

The U.N. Climate Panel projects that world atmospheric temperature will rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius because of emissions of greenhouse gases that could bring floods, droughts, heat waves and more powerful storms.

As glaciers and ice sheets melt, they can raise overall ocean levels and swamp low-lying areas.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Related Articles:

Ice Bridge Holding Antarctic Shelf in Place Shatters

Study: Arctic sea ice melting faster than expected

Jakarta Predicted to be Underwater By 2012

As of 2010, all means af sea transport must fly Indonesian flag

Medan (ANTARA News) - All means of sea transport operating in Indonesia need to fly the Indonesian flag as of 2010.

"Meanwhile, commodities imported using government funds must use Indonesian ships," head of the foreign sea transportation sub directorate of the transportation ministry, Adolf R Tambunan, said here on Thursday.

According to him, this decision was already laid down in the roadmap on the use of national ships (cabotage) involving 13 ministers.

The road map was drawn up on the basis of presidential instruction No 5/2005 on the empowerment of the national shipping industry, while the 13 ministers were coordinating minister of the economy, national development planning minister, transportation minister, finance minister, home minister, trade minister, industry minister, forestry minister, national education minister, energy and mineral resources minister, marine and fishery minister, state entreprices minister and cooperatives minister.

"The decision also applies to all district heads, mayors and governors," he said.

To become host in one`s own country, all sides need to support and include the cabotage principles without exception of business players and a number of members of the Indonesian community.

Cabotage principles are a must considering that there is a sanction in the case of a violation.

To smoothen the application of the decision, he added, the government had increased the empowerment of the national shipping industry among others by providing financial, taxation and fuel supply facilities.

In view of national shipping industry empowerment, he said, the step taken by the government was establishing an integrated shipping industry and an incentive for companies wishing to build and repair own ships.

Chairman of the Indonesian National Shipowners Association`s container transport affairs Asmari Herry said the decision had actually expanded the national shipping market.

"One of the indications was that the growth of the national ships reached only 29.9 percent from 2005 to 2008, so that the use of foreign vessels continued to decline," he said.

The number of national vessels now reached 7,846 units, he said.

Indonesia, India to intensify security precautions in Andaman Waters

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and India will intensify security in Andaman`s territorial waters in anticipation of security disturbances in the region.

Spokesman for the Military (TNI) headquarters in Jakarta Rear Marshal Sagom Tamboen said here on Thursday that by doing so, all kinds of threats including those posed by the entry of Tamil Tiger rebels into Indonesia could be prevented.

"Till now, the security situation in the Andaman sea is still conducive, as no Tamil tiger rebels had entered Indonesia thanks to regular joint patrols in the waters," he said.

Code-named Indindocorpat, the joint patrol was held twice a year under a protocol signed by the navies of the two countries.

The first Indindocorpat was held in September 2002 and at least nine joint patrols had been conducted by the two countries.

According to the two sides, the patrol was proven to have benefited the two countries in dealing with piracy, smuggling, territorial transgression and inter-state crime in the Andaman sea.

Earlier, Indonesia pledged to the Sri Lankan government that its territory would not be used by Tamil tiger rebels.

The guaranty was conveyed by Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda during his visit to Sri Lanka on March 29-30, 2009.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Teuku Faizasyah during a meeting in Grosvenor House of JW Marriot Hotel in London on Tuesday said that so far there was no precedence or report on activities of Tamil tigers in Indonesia.

However, the Sri Lankan government asked Indonesia to prevent the Tamil tiger fighters to enter its territory for military training purposes.

IOTC to impose mandatory certification for tuna products

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 04/02/2009 3:17 PM

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) plans to impose a mandatory product certification system on its member countries to certify that their tuna products are not caught using illegal practices, before being exported.

The plan was proposed on Wednesday during the third day of the commission's 13th annual meeting in Bali, Indonesia representative Saut Hutagalung said Wednesday.

Tuna products that fail to show the certificate will be prohibited from entering other member countries' markets, Saut says.

"The new regulation aims to reduce the practice of illegal fishing among member countries and also to make sure that the *tuna* capturing system will not affect other species like sharks, sea turtles and sea wolves, which have become endangered species," he said.

The certificate will contain and verify information submitted by fishermen and traders before exporting the fish, specifying the type of fishing boat used when capturing the fish, the fishing equipment used, areas fished and the dates of catches, according to Suseno Sukoyono, who heads the Indonesian delegation to IOTC, which ends on April 3.

No timetable has been set for the new regulations to be introduced, but Saut expects the new regulation imposing a catch documentation requirement in respect of big-eye tuna to be effective starting 2010. Big-eye tuna are amongst the tuna species most threatened by over-fishing.

Saut says that the product certification requirement was initially proposed by the European Union (EU) countries, which since 2008 have required fish product certification for all fish products entering EU member state markets.

"They want a similar system to be applied within IOTC member countries," Saut says.

The certification system maybe one of the platforms strengthening IOTC prior to applying mandatory trade sanctions against illegal fishing practices by its members.

IOTC executive secretary Alexandro Anganuzzi said on Monday that the commission was considering applying trade sanctions, under which member countries would be prevented from receiving any tuna products if the country would be involved in any irresponsible fishing practices.

NTT appeals for support for new wonder

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang | Thu, 04/02/2009 3:16 PM

The East Nusa Tenggara provincial administration has called on the international community to support its bid to include the Komodo National Park in West Manggarai as one of the new seven wonders of the world.

East Nusa Tenggara Governor Frans Leburaya raised the matter in Kupang on Wednesday in response to the polling results released by the www.new7wonder.com website, which showed Komodo National Park had dropped from 12th to 15th in the third week of March.

"The drop to 15th place shows the struggle is still on to prove that Komodo National Park, which is rich in natural resources and home to the rare Komodo dragon, should be recognized as one of the new seven wonders of the world," said Leburaya.

Those wishing to support the national park can do so via the website.

"We need to coordinate with groups that can potentially offer support for our cause, such as schools, universities, businesses and stakeholders in tourism, be it through direct campaigns or pamphlets promoting the national park," said Leburaya.

The poll results, he said, would determine whether or not the judges will select Komodo National Park as one of the new wonders of the world.

"Last year, Borobudur Temple failed to be included as a world wonder due to the lack of support from both Indonesian and international communities," said Leburaya.

Most of East Nusa Tenggara, he said, contained huge amounts of tourist potential.

"The Komodo National Park and Kelimutu Lake, in terms of natural resources and rich environments, are second to none. The province also has vast marine tourism potential given the fact its sea area is four times that of its land area," he said.

Another unique cultural experience available in the area is the whale-hunting tradition of the Lamalera community in Flores.

Indonesia`s fish exports projected at four million tons

Bengkulu, (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has projected its fish exports at four million tons worth USD 2.8 billion this year.

Director General of Fish Management and Marketing at the Marine and Fishery Ministry Prof Martani Husainai said here on Tuesday that the projection was little bit higher than last year`s USD2.6 billion.

"While Indonesian`s fish consumption was still high, production capacity reached only four million tons per year," he said.

Furthermore, Martani said till now the United States is still the biggest destination of Indonesia`s fish exports, followed by Japan and the European Union.

According to him, the lack of facilities and infrastructure for fish catching and processing in some regions had caused Indonesia`s fish production to be low, while Indonesia`s waters are still abundant with fish.

"Bengkulu`s waters for instance, are abundant in fish, but it still lacked the infrastructure," he said.

In the western region, West Sumatra province was the biggest producer of special fishes such as Tuna, and according to him this condition should be used by Bengkulu to cooperate in a bid to increase the fish production.

In the meantime, head of the marine and fishery representative office in Bengkulu, Maman Suherman said his side was building a national fish port in Bengkulu to make use of the existing fish potentials in that waters.

RI against IOTC plan to separate from FAO

Ika Krismantari, THE JAKARTA POST, BALI | Wed, 04/01/2009 12:10 PM

Indonesia is against a plan from the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) to separate from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN.

Indonesia’s representative at the 13th annual meeting of the IOTC currently underway in Bali, Nilanto Prabowo, said the organization’s status should remain as it is, which is under the auspices of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), since separation might lead to increased control of the organization by the bigger developed nations.

“We have the interest to retain IOTC’s position under FAO, as the UN organization cares about the existence of the developing countries in the commission,” he said.

IOTC was established in 1996 as an intergovernmental organization under a UN convention.

It has 28 members including Australia, the UK, Japan and the EU representing the interests of developed UN member states, while Indonesia, Iran and India are among those representing developing ones.

Nilanto also said that there were concerns on the part of developing countries about the possibility of changes in the IOTC system should the IOTC split from the FAO.

The IOTC could become a more market-oriented organization with major countries and interests taking control of the commission, Nilanto said, circumstances that could put the tuna industry in developing countries at risk, as they did not have the capacity for full-blown competition with larger competitors.

The proposal to separate from FAO has so far secured the backing of countries like Japan, Australia and New Zealand, but opposition from many developing nations.

Nilanto said China, Iran and India shared the Indonesian position.

This proposal, to leave the FAO, first originated from a recommendation by an independent panel of IOTC, as it saw the management of the commission as too dominated by the UN’s complex bureaucratic system, making it less efficient and often less transparent.

IOTC executive secretary Alexandro Anganuzzi acknowledged the wide difference in opinions between the groups for and against change.

“It is very premature for us to say [about the outcome to separate or not], it will be up to members to do what they want,” he said.

IOTC’s main objective is to promote cooperation among its members to ensure the conservation and optimum utilization of tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean region.

It is holding its 13th annual meeting in Bali from March 30 until April 3 to discuss these issues.

Indonesia, which is the largest tuna producer in the Southeast Asia region, only recently joined the IOTC as a full member in 2007, after previously serving as a cooperating non-contracting party.

In 2008, Indonesia produced 937,000 tons of fish, including 125,933 tons of tuna. The year before, it produced 892,000 tons of fish, including 121,316 tons of tuna.

The country has said earlier in the meeting that it would propose an additional 500 tuna fishing boats to be added to its existing fleet of 874 tuna fishing vessels.