Pete Thomas Outdoors

Victims in deadly sailing race were not wearing life jackets

A U.S. Coast Guard investigator confirmed Sunday that three sailors who were killed during an apparent collision during the Newport-to-Ensenada Yacht Race were not wearing floatation vests.

"None were wearing life jackets," Bill Fitzgerald, the Coast Guard's lead investigator in the case, said in a news release issued by race organizers.

A fourth sailor aboard the 37-foot vessel Aegean, which appears to have been involved in a crash with a much larger vessel, remains missing.

The Aegean was one of 210 boats entered in the 125-mile race from Newport Beach, Calif., to the Mexican port of Ensenada.

The vessel disappeared from an online race tracking system at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. A daylong U.S. Coast Guard search turned up scattered wreckage near the Coronado Islands,  just south of U.S. waters and about eight miles offshore.

Coast Guard crews recovered three bodies. Two were identified as Joseph Lester Stewart, 64, of Bradenton, Fla., and William Reed Johnson Jr., 57, of Torrance, Calif. The identity of the third recovered body was not released pending notification of next of kin.

Theo Mavromatis, owner and skipper of Aegean, was said to be aboard.

Exactly what happened remains unclear but a collision seems the most plausible explanation. Large ships ply the same waters as sailboats participating in the annual race to Ensenada.

"We haven't discounted that possibility," Fitzgerald said. "We're still tracking down any vessel that may have been in their area."

It's unknown whether floatation vests might have helped. Wreckage was mostly small pieces strewn over a three-mile area. Winds were light and swells were running 3-6 feet.

The Newport-to-Ensenada race had until Saturday enjoyed a sterling safety record. These are the first fatalities in the 65-year history of a storied competition that used to attract 500-plus entrants per year.

Mavromatis is president and chief executive of Aegean Consulting Inc., in Manhattan Beach, Calif. The company specializes in telecommunications and aerospace industries.

Ray Pollock of Marina Sailing, which rented Aegean when Mavromatis was not using the vessel, told Redondo Beach Patch that Mavromatis was participating in the race for the seventh time. He won his class in 2011 and 2009.

The vessel had a new engine and an experienced crew. "I’d probably rule out operator error,” Pollock said.

-- Image showing Aegean and its crew at the start of the Newport-to-Ensenada Yacht Race is courtesy of Susan Hoffman / Newportbeach.patch.com

Great white shark catches on the rise in Sea of Cortez

The capture last week of a gigantic great white shark in Mexico's Sea of Cortez was major news because of the size of the predator -- nearly 20 feet long and weighing at least 2,000 pounds -- but also because catches of adult white sharks in the gulf are considered rare.

Sadly, however, such catches appear to be increasingly common.

This week I was contacted by Erik Cutter, who supplied the top image showing two Mexican fishermen posing with a massive set of jaws extracted two weeks ago from a very large white shark near Loreto.

Loreto is on the Baja California side of the Sea of Cortez. The other catch reportedly was made off the mainland coast near Guaymas.

Cutter, publisher of Baja Life magazine and co-founder of the green-energy group EnviroIngenuity, has a home in Loreto and is acquainted with many locals and some commercial fishermen. The photograph, he said, was of a print photograph the fishermen had shared. They allowed Cutter to photograph the print if he promised to crop their faces.

Cutter was told that white sharks are being increasingly targeted for their jaws and fins, and that 13 large sharks have been killed during the past few weeks alone. Shark jaws are sold locally for about $1,500 per set, then re-sold by more entrepreneurial types for much steeper prices. A set of jaws like the one shown above might garner $10,000 or more.

This is alarming because white sharks are embattled and highly-protected in Mexico -- as in the U.S. -- and because portions of the Sea of Cortez are now recognized as important nursery areas for the species.

The capture off Guaymas (see photo at right) was by fishermen who claimed to have accidentally caught the behemoth in their nets.

Cutter said that fishermen north of Loreto use baited hooks beneath air-filled barrels, and that hooked white sharks eventually tire and drown before they're taken ashore.

In a news release Cutter stated, "Commercial fishing has become so difficult in the Sea of Cortez that several of the few remaining commercial fisherman are so desperate that they are now targeting the ocean’s greatest predator, the Great White Shark.

"According to a very reliable source, at least thirteen mature Great Whites between 16 and 22 feet long, some estimated to weigh more than 2,200 pounds, [were] slaughtered for their fins and their jaws."

Much of the fishing is said to occur off Isla Ildefonso, an increasingly popular dive spot about 40 miles north of Loreto.

"The economic reasons are obvious, but certainly, they don’t justify the indiscriminate and illegal killing of these amazing sharks," Cutter said. "I am very upset by this because I have worked for many years to educate local fisherman to protect their fishery, one that Jacques Cousteau once called, 'The Aquarium of the World. ’"

The fishermen, obviously, know of no other way to make a living, and because of the remoteness of the area there is little enforcement. But if white sharks truly are being massacred at this alarming rate, at risk to the marine ecosystem, perhaps the Mexican authorities should investigate--and soon.

-- Pete Thomas

Legal to keep female lingcod or should anglers release them?

In support of the California Department of Fish and Game and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Pete Thomas Outdoors, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's weekly California Outdoors Q&A column:

Question: Last year before the end of rockfish season, I went on a charter boat out of Berkeley. Some of the lingcod caught were females with eggs. When do lingcod spawn and can keeping these females hurt the fishery in the future? Should we as anglers release females like we do for striped bass? I’m glad to see the size limit dropped and the season longer, but I don’t want to be back to where we were before. (Jason Green)

Answer: Lingcod and other groundfish are federally managed. Harvest management plans and stock assessments take into account the removal of both males and females when setting quotas, so fishery managers do factor in the take of females, too.

According to Department of Fish and Game Environmental Biologist Travis Tanaka, the lingcod stock has fully recovered from their overfished status and so the spawning closure is no longer required to protect the stocks. Lingcod don’t get the bends (no swim bladder), so females can be released if handled properly.

In northern and central California, the primary reason for the current closed seasons for lingcod in late fall, winter and spring for boat-based anglers, and from December through March for shore-based anglers, is to protect mature females that have moved inshore to spawn and to protect the mature males that guard the egg nests.

Lingcod are a species that if handled properly can often be successfully caught and released. However, unless regulations prohibit keeping the fish (e.g. bag and minimum size limits) or the angler is releasing all fish, if it turns out the fish has been improperly handled or is bleeding and may not survive, the fish should be kept. Releasing bleeding females that may not survive in order to keep males instead just wastes fish and is not a good conservation method.

Lingcod generally spawn from November through February. Females do take longer to mature and they grow to a larger size than males. By some estimates, males only grow to 24-26 inches. Females are legal to keep, so keeping an egg-laden female would be up to that fisherman’s personal ethics. In addition, the practice of divers choosing to shoot male lingcod while they are guarding the egg beds is not prohibited, but it is a reflection of that fisherman’s ethics.

Bottom line … female lingcod are legal to take and so it’s up to the fisherman to decide whether or not they want to.

Q: Who can I talk to about planting wild turkeys on private property? I am not sure if it is legal to plant turkeys. If it is legal, do I need a permit? And if so, how do I get one? (Steve H.)

Basking shark sightings on the rise off Southern California

Lots of Southern Californians are on the ocean looking for whales this spring, but they might also keep an eye out for basking sharks.

Though sightings of these gargantuan plankton-eating sharks are rare, three were recorded this week: one Tuesday off La Jolla, another early Wednesday morning south of Dana Point, and a third Wednesday near San Clemente Island.

The Wednesday sighting was made just before 7 a.m. by fishermen aboard the Sum Fun out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing. (Videotape of that shark is at the bottom of this post; the image at right is generic, courtesy of Gregory B. Skomal.)

NOAA Fisheries biologist Heidi Dewar said that local sightings of basking sharks tend to increase at this time of year, perhaps because food becomes more abundant.

Basking sharks are the world's second largest fish, next to whale sharks. They're found in temperate oceans around the world and can measure 45 feet. They feed mostly on swarms of copepods and other zooplankton.

Upwelling generated by springtime winds often results in plankton blooms. Boat captains off San Diego and Orange County have noticed vast swarms of shrimp-like krill, which feed on smaller copepods and are part of the same food web.

Basking sharks are among the most mysterious of large sharks. Scientists do not have reliable population estimates and know little about migration patterns. In the eastern Pacific they were once commonly found off Central California and Canada, but were extensively hunted until about the mid-1950s.

In 2010 off San Diego, NOAA Fisheries biologists placed a satellite tag on a basking shark, marking the first-ever satellite tagging of the species in the Pacific. The tag, however, popped off the shark and washed ashore soon afterward.

(Extensive tagging of basking sharks, with color and number identification tags, has been performed off Monterey in Central California by the the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation.)

Since 2010, two other basking sharks were tagged in the region. One traveled to Morro Bay before the tag came off after 53 days. The other swam to Hawaiian waters and biologists were able to track its movements for eight months.

Last year in Monterey, as part of a Stanford University project, a satellite tag was placed on a basking shark that swam to waters off Baja California.

Scientists are striving to learn more and a team from NOAA Fisheries was searching for basking sharks Wednesday off San Diego. Boaters who make a sighting are asked to email information to [email protected], or telephone (858) 334-2884.

Entangled gray whale relocated off Central California

An entangled Pacific gray whale that eluded rescuers a week ago off Southern California was spotted Tuesday morning off Central California in a remote area about halfway between Morro Bay and Monterey.

The 40-foot whale was discovered April 17 off Laguna Beach with thick rope, presumably some kind of fishing gear, wrapped around its mouth and pectoral areas (whale is pictured above).

Three colored buoys were attached to the fishing gear, and rescuers managed to cut away some of the rope, but darkness fell and an extensive search effort the next day failed to relocate the mammal.

Monica DeAngelis, a marine mammal biologist with NOAA Fisheries, said Tuesday that a private citizen reported spotting the whale at about 8:30 a.m. off Gorda Point, about 50 miles from the nearest large ports at Morro Bay to the south, and Monterey.

DeAngelis said an attempt is being made to assemble a rescue team and that weather assessments are being made in advance of an approaching storm. She asks boaters and people on land to keep an eye out for the whale, which is still trailing the buoys, and to telephone (562) 980-3232 with sighting information.

The person who spotted the whale said it was surfacing frequently, perhaps a sign that it's tiring.

If it continues traveling to the north, as expected, it could be close to Monterey on Wednesday or Thursday. Perhaps then, if the weather cooperates, rescuers can find the whale and cut away all or at least most of the remaining fishing gear.

This is the third gray whale to have been discovered entangled off Southern California in the past five weeks.

-- Image showing entangled gray whale last week off Southern California is courtesy of Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Safari. Image is protected by copyright laws.

Scientists release footage of rare white orca named 'Iceberg'

Russian scientists have released footage showing a rare white orca that is part of a small pod known to inhabit waters near the Commander Islands east of the Kamchatka Peninsula (see video).

The orca, named "Iceberg for its towering white fin," is believed to be the only pure white adult male orca to have been documented. It was spotted and photographed twice in 2010 but scientists with the Far East Russia Orca Project did not release footage until this week.

"There has been at least one other 'white' bull that I've heard of in the Aleutians but it was fairly mottled, yellowish, and it was before our time," said Erich Hoyt, co-director of FEROP and a research fellow with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

Hoyt said one of the goals of a photo-identification research mission next month is to re-locate Iceberg and other members of his pod.

The scientist said that he knows of only a handful of white orcas to have been documented globally, "with Iceberg being the only male and the whitest."

-- Note: For more on this story visit GrindTv.com. To view photos of Iceberg visit the Russian Orcas Facebook page.

Gray whale moms and babies surge into Southland waters

There are two great reasons for Southern California marine mammal admirers to go whale-watching during the next few weeks: gray whale mothers and babies.

Though thousands of Pacific gray whales have already passed through on their way from Baja California breeding areas to Arctic feeding grounds, the season for cow-calf sightings has begun to peak.

This is also a time when more whales stick closer to shore (see image below).

Barring long periods of fog, sightings should remain fairly steady at least through April, and perhaps through early May.

Last year, volunteer spotters with the ACS-LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project on the Palos Verdes Peninsula counted 110 northbound calves from March 6 through May 14.

Through Thursday spotters had counted northbound 55 calves. That number should increase sharply over the next several days. Overall, project spotters this season tallied 671 southbound and 670 northbound gray whales.

Dana Wharf Whale Watching, which provided the accompanying image, announced earlier this week that it logged its 400th gray whale sighting, a landing record for one season. Dana Wharf reported sighting three cow-calf pairs on its morning run Friday.

There are about 20,000 Pacific gray whales. Their 10,000- to 15,000-mile roundtrip migration, to and from Baja California, supports whale-watching operations in Mexico and along the West Coast.

Earlier this season observers in Baja California lagoons reported an increase in the number of calves, so boaters should be aware that precious cargo is passing through, and tread carefully.

-- Pete Thomas

Top image, which shows a gray whale breaching off Laguna Beach, is courtesy of James Gresham. Bottom image, showing a gray whale mother and calf this week in the same area, is courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale Watching.

Dog-training with farm-raised game birds?

In support of the California Department of Fish and Game and its effort to keep hunters and anglers informed, Pete Thomas Outdoors, on Thursday or Friday, posts marine biologist Carrie Wilson's weekly California Outdoors Q&A column:

Question: I have a 16-month-old Brittany pup that I’m training for upland game. I would like to continue to train him until it starts to get too hot. I want to buy chukars and pheasants from a breeder, then release and take them on private property. What steps do I need to do to stay legal?  (Paul)

Answer: There is no longer a dog training permit requirement. Dog training is authorized so long as no wild birds are captured, injured or killed (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 677). Since you won’t be doing this as part of an organized field trial or hunt test, you are not required to notify Department of Fish and Game or mark the birds. However, your dog would only be allowed to take birds on the day they are released and you are required to buy the birds from a licensed, domesticated game breeder. To avoid any confusion, you should retain your receipts or other paperwork showing you purchased the birds from a domestic game breeder.

Q: Is it true that traps cannot be used in Humboldt Bay or the mouth of the Eel River? Both areas are popular for crabbing and I’ve never heard of anybody getting cited for using traps or rings. Thanks. (Bryan S.)

A: You are correct. Traps are not allowed in any inland waters, but are allowed in the Ocean and San Francisco Bay District (as defined by CCR Title 14, section 27.00). This regulation includes "the waters of open or enclosed bays continuous to the ocean" in its definition of waters within the Ocean and San Francisco Bay District. Humboldt Bay is an "enclosed bay continuous to the ocean," so crab traps are allowed in Humboldt Bay. The mouth of the Eel River does not have an open or enclosed bay that I know of. It’s more of a tidewater lagoon, so it would fall under the definition of inland water (in CCR Title 14, section 1.53) and traps would not be allowed. This regulation defines inland waters as "all the fresh, brackish and inland saline waters of the state, including lagoons and tidewaters upstream from the mouths of coastal rivers and streams."

Q: My question is about the bag limit and possession limit of fish. Can one person carry more than just their own fish? Other friends say it is fine as long as the licensed people are accounted for, even if they are on the same line. If we have a bag limit of five fish and possession limit of 10, would sharing a stringer with a friend count toward my bag and/or possession limit? Would a stringer of fish in the water be different from having a bucket or cooler of fish instead? Other friends have said the fish must be in a cooler or the car for it to not count toward your bag limit but it will still count towards your possession limit. (Toua X.)

Southland boaters asked to be on alert for entangled whale

 

Southern California boaters are asked to be on the lookout for a gray whale that was the focus of a disentanglement effort on Tuesday off Orange County, and is still trailing commercial fishing gear (some footage can be seen above).

After the whale was spotted during the afternoon, a crew from Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Safari helped to keep track of the whale's movements while a disentanglement team from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, and other agencies, arrived to try to free the mammal from commercial fishing gear.

The following recap is from Monica DeAngelis, a marine mammal specialist with NOAA Fisheries:

"The team assessed the animal, per their training and recommendations from NOAA,  and decided it was safe to attempt to disentangle the animal. The team successfully attached three buoys (two large white and one medium orange) to the gear entangling the whale. They managed to cut away much of the trailing gear before dark.

"The crew indicated that the line was entangling the pectoral and the mouth of the animal. It's estimated that the animal may have been trailing about 100-150 feet of gear. The animal is a gray whale, assessed to be healthy, adult, and approximately 40 feet long.

"The entanglement is estimated to be a fairly new injury, and the crew was extra cautious as the location of the entanglement poses the highest risk to the rescue team."

The whale was last seen swinning in a southerly direction. As of late Wednesday morning, DeAngelis said, it had not been re-sighted. If anyone spots the whale they're encouraged to call the Pacific Marine Mammal Center at (949) 494-3050, or DeAngelis at (562) 980-3232.

This is the third known gray whale entanglement in the past month. Gray whales are continuing their migration from Baja California breeding grounds to Arctic feeding grounds. Many of the whales passing through Southland waters now are mothers with calves.

Massive great white shark caught in Sea of Cortez

A great white shark measuring nearly 20 feet and weighing 2,000 pounds -- according to a  local report -- was hauled up Sunday by commercial fishermen in the Sea of Cortez near Guaymas.

The massive predator was dead when it was brought to the surface in a net deployed by fishermen named Guadalupe and Baltazar, who were treated to the surprise of a lifetime when they saw what they had captured.

"We were amazed and immediately realized that we had a huge, dead, great white shark, and then we thought what are we going to do?," Guadalupe told Pisces Sportfishing, which is located in the resort city of Cabo San Lucas.

There is some dispute about the size. If, in fact, it measured six meters (19.8 feet), as Milenio News reported, it'd be one of the longest white sharks ever recorded. Also, if it measured 20 feet, it should weigh a lot more than 2,000 pounds.

Regardless, it's a humongous specimen. The fishermen, who were aboard a 22-foot skiff, towed the behemoth two miles to the beach, where dozens of people helped drag it onto dry sand.

"Guadalupe and Baltazar swore they had never seen a fish this big before in their lives," the Pisces blog stated. "Even though on March 13 of this year, some of their fellow fishermen had also caught a great white, which had weighed 990 pounds."

Adult white sharks were once believed to be rare in the Sea of Cortez, or Gulf of California, but scientists now believe parts of the gulf serve as a nursery for the species.

-- For more on this story visit GrindTv.com

-- Related story: Angler lands largest-known yellowfin tuna caught on rod and reel

-- Images are two of one of three that appear on a San Carlos Mexico online forum