A Morning Show

(Jul 7, 2012 – Cape Cod MA)  Ralph predicted that yesterday would be a morning show, meaning that during the morning many whales would be feeding on the surface and bluefin could be found swimming beneath and near the surface, all foraging on large pods of sand eels that had recently moved into the area.  Ralph Pratt and his son Mike function as a team, Ralph spotting for bluefin from his plane and Mike running the stick boat with Max, his crewman.  They are commercial bluefin tuna fishermen, part of a little-known and rather small fishery, the only functioning, directed commercial fishery for bluefin in the US, in which regulations allow fishing only by handgear and the only handgear authorized for catching bluefin is harpoon, rod and reel or handline. No industrial or mechanized fishing systems are allowed in this fishery.   Fish are caught one at a time.  It is the most highly regulated bluefin tuna fishery in the world.

Each boat in this fishery is a sole proprietorship, owned and operated by its captain.  As defined by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, this is an artisanal fishery, the only artisanal fishery in the US.

If you hold up your left arm, your hand in a fist and your bicep parallel to the ground, the shape created by your entire arm is roughly similar to the shape of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.  The top of your forearm (the place where hair grows) would represent the east coast of the Cape, facing the Atlantic.  Inside your fist would be Provincetown and your knuckles the approximate location of Race Point, the northernmost Atlantic coast of the Cape.  A great deal of water passes by Race Point.  Any marine species that migrate north-south along this part of the East Coast of the US must pass near Race Point.  And this is where the whales and bluefin recently found sand eels in abundance.

Weather conditions have been nearly ideal for three days early in the week and the harpooners were busy.  This was their time and they were making the most of it.  Harpooners have difficulty working when wave height is high because it’s difficult to see the fish when the sea state is agitated.  The boats used for harpooning are downeast-style, native to the region and typically about 35 feet in length, with a very distinctive appearance.  These vessels are fitted with a crows nest raised high above the wheelhouse roof and from this perch the helmsman has a good vantage point, with throttle and steering controls.  A long pulpit is mounted on the bow for the harpooner.  In heavier weather, the helmsman in the crows nest will endure the swaying or pendulum effect created when the vessel rolls in the waves and the harpooner will endure a dramatic rise and fall of his stand at the forward end of the pulpit, the exaggerated effect of the bow rising and falling [“porpoising”] as it passes over waves.  A great deal of skill is required to harpoon and unpredictable weather and sea conditions are a further challenge.  Bluefin harpooning is a vestige of the old New England whaling tradition.

Harpooners rely on their ability to sight swimming bluefin just below the surface.  From the wheelhouse of my boat, I am not able to see the bluefin swimming under the surface.  My vessel does not have a crows nest.  I fish using conventional rod and reel and for bluefin it must be the heaviest and strongest gear available.  The last three days were not my time.  It is early in the season and bluefin are just arriving in the Gulf of Maine.  Some fishermen will say that the fish have not settled in yet so it is difficult to know where to find them, particularly if you can’t see them.

On the surface, here and there, everywhere the eye can see, there were whales feeding, either alone or in small groups.  Whales use all or part of their body, usually a flipper, the tail or sometimes by breaching to slap the surface of the water and stun their prey.  They then suck up the stunned prey.  Bubble feeding is another technique in which a group of whales herd in a circular fashion, surrounding a school of forage while releasing bubbles, having the effect of confusing and bunching the forage together.  Wherever whales are feeding there are invariably lots of sea birds to be found busy picking away at the whales’ leavings.  One or two bluefin may be beneath the surface, silently foraging either singly or in small groups in the vicinity. Bluefin are among the fastest swimmers in the ocean.

I knew that it was unlikely that I would catch fish during this time.  Given the copious amount of forage available, bluefin have little or no interest in the bait that I can offer them.  Days in which you don’t catch fish are to be considered a part of the job.  Fishermen say that you will never catch fish from your couch at home, meaning that you have to put in your time on the water if you are going to catch fish and this means that you have to expect many days throughout the season of six months or so when you will catch nothing.   So, you have to love being on the water and catching bluefin is the objective. This is my way of looking at it.  I love being on the water and I am passionate about improving my competence as a mariner and fisherman, a lifelong work-in-progress to be sure.  The solution is simple:  Never stop learning about the ocean and never assume that you know all the ways to catch tuna.

For the last three days, even though I didn’t catch anything, I was given a visual feast that very few ever see.  On the second day, the water surface was almost like glass, reflecting a more or less cloudless blue sky.  The air temperature offshore in early July is quite warm so everyone was working in tshirts and shorts.   Harpoon boats with their distinctive bow pulpits and crows nests were seen occasionally here and there, either milling about and waiting for an opportunity or, in motion, going after bluefin.  The whales were oblivious to this activity.  Whales coexist quite well with bluefin and with the fishing boats.  Whales have no interest in our boats, our bait or our lures.  It is a somewhat humbling feeling when you observe these great mammals on the surface, close by.  Many of them are larger than our boats.  To see a whale up close in this way is of course why so many tourists take whale watching excursions.  For the New England bluefin fisherman whales are a regular part of his working landscape.