How to drive dolphins to extinction

The destructive power of human being is amazing. It is not bad enough that we over fish until a species is almost extinct, now these guys are trying to kill off a species we don't even eat.

Then these "fishermen" go on to say, "The Federation of Commercial Fishermen and a number of fishing companies challenged the restrictions, saying they would cost jobs in areas where the dolphins were never seen. The federation did not want to harm the dolphins but sought seasonal relief where jobs were under immediate threat."

What are we talking about here, 10-20 jobs. Let get real, these jobs are on their way out anyways. With the predatory fishing practices and greed these guys have already fished themselves out of a job. Time to find something else to do.








So you ask what is it that this fight is over. The first is the Hector Dolphin. "The Hector's dolphin is only found off the coast of New Zealand, which means it is endemic to New Zealand.
The Hector's dolphin is the rarest dolphin in the world - not a title to envy! "

The second is the Maui Dolphin. "Numbering around 110, the Maui's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori maui) is the world's smallest and rarest marine dolphin. Maui's dolphins are generally found along the North West coast of the North Island of New Zealand, between New Plymouth and Dargaville.

So there is only a few of these little dolphins in existence and what do people want to do to protect them, nothing. Lets just string up a big ol' net and catch them all and be done with it. You gotta love commercial fisherman and politicians. This scenario seems pretty straight forward, protect the Hector and Maui dolphins or they will be extinct. End of story. So by the response of the New Zealand High Court I guess we will just kill them all off. Nice work in the land of the long white cloud and extinct dolphins.

Let's hope some common sense and rational thinking infests their pea brains and they do the right thing.

If you are interested in helping save these dolphins take action here.

Save the Dolphins
Cheers

Fishing the 10% method and Some Unusual Styles

Fishing, a sport that anyone can participate in. Young, old, male female, big, small it makes no difference to the fish. As far as I am concerned fishing is about putting in the hours. Doing the hard time per se. For first timers there is always an element of luck. Especially when they go out and land a huge fish of a lifetime and it was there first time to ever hold a rod. Such is lady luck.
The reality is a lot less glamorous. Fishing for hours on end without a bite. Fishing for hours on end in the rain without a bite. Then there is the fishing for hours on end without a bite while your fishing buddy is landing fish after fish. That’s the hard time.
I think the saying goes 10 percent of the anglers catch 90 percent of the fish. Reason being, the hard time.
People who catch fish regularly work hard for it. They learn to read the water and fish the tides. They are up at the crack of dawn and sometimes before. They never give up. If their favorite lure is not working then they change it and continue to fish the new one with confidence. If the new one is not working then they change again. It’s a never give up attitude that makes up the 10 percent.
There are many different techniques employed to catch fish and of course some of them are not very conventional but I am not judging.

Now this is what I call pushing the never give up attitude to the limit. Unfortunately I don’t think even lady luck will help this one.

This is what I call the scenting your lure technique. You put the lure in you mouth while carefully avoiding the hooks and get you saliva and scent all over the lure. According to some the fish then think they are kissing you instead of biting a hook. Of course it helps if you had sardines for lunch.

There is a not well known method of getting your lure out farther than you can cast. It involves a sea bird and the knowledge of bird whistling. Once mastered you can get your lure out to the fish without having to cast very far. The trick lies with the release from the bird. I am still unsure of this one but I have seen it employed several times.

Then of course there are those that just prefer to be friends with the fish rather than hook them.

This last method of fishing while standing in quick sand is beyond me. Be glad there are no crocodiles

I would like to say thanks to Katie Longo and Billy Longo for letting me use their images. In addition, I would like to give credit to Katie for putting in the hard time; it is starting to pay off for her.

Tight lines and screaming drags

Sky Watch Friday

Welcome to Sky watch Friday. I was not going to use this site this week but I was half asleep when I posted the link and I posted the wrong one. So here I am scrambling to get a post up. I shot this one at a ferry dock here in Fiji. A local fishing boat with its reflection and of course the reflection of the sky. Have a great weekend and don't forget to visit Sky Watch Friday for more sky photos from around the world.

Garbage and all that washes up on the beach

I have yet to go fishing since I have moved. Suburbia does not allow me to keep my boat in the water in front of my house. Just one of many draw backs. That being said I have spent a fair bit of time on the beach with my dog, she still needs the exercise and I get a break.
One thing I have noticed is the huge increase of garbage on the shore line. Maybe it is because at my old place I picked up every bit of rubbish every day so it did not seem so much. This new beach that I run my dog on is absolutely littered with garbage. I am talking plastic bottles, cans, bags, VHS tapes, tires, you name it, and it is there.

I have always had an idea that the garbage on the beach is the oceans way of puking up what we humans discard into it. Unfortunately it all does not come back up. Some stays out there and collects into a giant raft. A floating waste land if you will. Some ends up killing birds and turtles. Still more ends up killing fish.

Why? Why do we as humans feel the need to completely destroy or environment? Do we not think about our actions? Or is it we just don’t give a damn? Have we as humans lost touch completely with our environment? Oh so many questions and still no answers. There are attempts at reducing and even eliminating plastic from our lives but the reality is we will just find something else to through away. I think the answer lies in education. I do not think we will ever get rid of our use and need of plastic and disposables, but we can learn to deal with it without making the environment pay for our excessive use of these byproducts.

Recycling is probably one of our best hopes at doing some good. A massive effort is needed to make a dent. Not just in the developed world but everywhere. All peoples in all countries need to conscientiously make the effort and really do something on a large, make that massive scale.
I live in Fiji and have found it very hard to recycle. The facilities just aren’t here. I am not sure why but am looking into it. Here on these beautiful tropical islands I can spend all day every day picking up trash from the beach and never make a dent. I find this very sad. People, no matter their ethnicity through their garbage in the ocean, it is almost as if they see it as their right.

If you have read this far then I ask a favor of you. If you see garbage on the ground pick it up and if you see someone throwing garbage on the ground say something. If you can recycle then do it and if the facilities are not available then find out why and try to get them available
If we all take these few steps it might actually put a dent in the excessive amount of garbage that is polluting our lives and the environment.