Pete Thomas Outdoors

Mako shark leaps into fishing boat, becomes accidental trophy

Jason Kresse and the two fishermen who were on his boat when an eight-foot mako shark leaped aboard early Monday morning off Texas were helpless to assist the dangerous predator, so they watched it thrash about until it eventually perished.

The commercial fishermen had hauled 2,400 pounds of snapper from the Gulf of Mexico depths -- and had just dumped two large buckets of snapper guts overboard -- and were preparing to return to port when the incident occurred at about 3:30 a.m.

In an interview Wednesday morning, Kreese called the incident "crazy" and described the media frenzy in the aftermath as being "unreal."

The 375-pound shark is on display in Freeport, Texas, at Captain Mark's Seafood, which Kresse manages.

Kresse, Steven Prejean and Jonathan Stohr first heard the shark slam into the side of the 25-foot boat. Then they saw it launch from the water.

"I looked up and 15 feet up in the air is a big-old shark," Kresse said. "It ended up landing in the back of my boat."

It remains unclear what caused the shark to jump. The fishermen were not armed and unsure what to do, so they just watched as it began to thrash on the deck, breaking two reels, a fishing rod and a gaff.

The shark then vaulted to the front of the boat. "And it just sat there, thrashing, for the next three or four hours until it finally died," Kresse said. "It was thrashing so hard it sounded like someone was hitting the boat with a sledge hammer. We weren't going to go near it."

Kresse said he has done several interviews and that even his parents were interviewed by a local news crew. The fisherman has contacted a taxidermist and will have the shark mounted, an accidental trophy, proof an almost unbelievable fish story.

-- Pete Thomas

Image shows Jason Kresse posing with 375-pound mako shark that leaped into his fishing boat. Courtesy of Jason Kresse

Twitter: @Pete_Thomas

Giant bass caught for second straight year at Texas lake

This year it was Sean Swank who caught the giant bass at Caddo Lake in Texas. Whose turn will it be next year?

Swank used a jig to entice the 16.07-pound largemouth bass off her spawning bed last Friday. It's the heaviest known bass to be caught in Texas this year.

Last year, on March 20, Keith Burns landed the same female bass in the same area on the lake, near the Louisiana border.

Biologists with Texas Parks & Wildlife are sure it was the same bass because they'd implanted a microchip in order to be able to identify the bass if it were caught again.

Interestingly, the bass was slightly heavier last year (16.17 pounds), because she was more laden with eggs.

Biologists reportedly will use the lunker for hatchery breeding purposes before delivering it back to Caddo Lake. Next year at this time she'll probably be back on a shallow nest, ready for another spawning season, tempted by more tasty-looking jigs zooming through the water.

-- Pete Thomas

Image of Sean Swank and the 16.07-pound bass he caught is courtesy of Texas Parks & Wildlife

Twitter: @Pete_Thomas

Angler prevails in epic battle with 805-pound bluefin tuna

The giant bluefin tuna that rose to inspect the bait was so large and round that it "looked like a car had been dropped from a helicopter," recalled Capt. Ned Ashby, to the North Carolina Sportsman.

It might as well have been a car, as far as Corey Schultz was concerned. Fishing last Saturday aboard Ashby's vessel beyond North Carolina's Oregon Inlet, Schultz spent 2 1/2 hours in a dramatic struggle before landing the 805-pound 8-ounce tuna.

On Thursday the catch was certified as a new North Carolina record, eclipsing the previous record by about 60 pounds.

It pales compared to the International Game Fish Assn.'s all-tackle world record, a 1,496-pound specimen reeled in off Nova Scotia in 1979. But Schultz's catch still ranks among the heaviest bluefin tuna to be landed by recreational anglers in the North Atlantic.

"It was just a huge explosion of water," he said of the initial strike, in an interview Friday morning. "The rod was just folded over. It was all I could do just to keep the rod tip out of the water."

Bluefin tuna are among the most powerful game fish on the planet. Schultz's quarry took the bait, a ballyhoo, at about 2 p.m. as the group fished 40 miles from shore. The angler used heavy tackle, a Shimano 80-wide reel spooled with 130-pound-test monofilament.

But that did not seem to matter; the bluefin stripped 1,000 yards from the reel in a sprint for freedom, and would easily have taken all the line had Ashby not been backing his boat, the Sea Breeze, in the direction of the fleeing fish.

Early humpback whale sighting logged off Santa Barbara

**Update: The Condor Express crew logged sightings of six more humpback whales on Wednesday

A humpback whale put on a show Tuesday for  passengers aboard the Condor Express out of Santa Barbara, marking that vessel's first humpback whale sighting of the season.

"We've heard rumors of these beasts coming back into the Santa Barbara Channel for a few days, and BINGO! Today we had one," read an email alert sent to frequent customers.

It's an early sighting. Humpback whales, which migrate into Southern California waters from the south, typically don't start showing until late April or early May.

The sighting comes less than a week after rare sightings of a large sperm whale pod off Long Beach and San Diego.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Humpback whale shows its fluke to passengers aboard the Condor Express during a friendly encounter on Tuesday. Credit: Bob Perry

Only 219 large white sharks off California, study claims

For anyone who has wondered how many large great white sharks lurk off California, researchers for the first time have produced a science-based estimate: 219.

That's the number of adult and sub-adult white sharks -- those about nine feet or longer -- believed to be utilizing California waters after an innovative photo-identification study conducted at seasonal shark haunts off Central California.

The number is surprisingly and perhaps alarmingly low given the key role white sharks, as apex predators, play in maintaining a healthy marine environment.

The study's lead author, UC Davis doctoral student Taylor Chapple, stated in a news release: "It's lower than we expected, and also substantially smaller than populations of other large marine predators, such as killer whales and polar bears. However, this estimate only represents a single point in time; further research will tell us if this number represents a healthy, viable population, or one critically in danger of collapse, or something in-between."

One prominent scientist has disputed the number, calling it a significant underestimation, based largely on his theory that not all large white sharks in California utilize those Central California haunts. Chapple said his group was not accounting for every shark in the northeastern Pacific, but acknowledged that the 219 figure was an estimate for California waters.

The collaborative study, published today in the journal Biology Letters, involved some of the world's foremost white shark experts. They collected 321 photographs of dorsal fins from what, based on distinctive markings, turned out to be 130 individual sharks. Data from this study -- and previous studies that determined the same sharks were visiting the same areas year after year -- were extrapolated to determine a population estimate.

Involved in the study were 69 male white sharks, 19 females and 42 sharks of undetermined sex.

White sharks, once they reach 8-9 feet, begin to shift from fishes and rays as food items to seals and sea lions. In California this also marks the point at which they travel from Southern California to rookeries off Central California. (The study area included the Farallon Islands west of San Francisco and Tomales Point to the north on the mainland.)

Late summer and fall are feeding periods at the rookeries. During the winter, these large sharks migrate to a vast offshore area between the mainland and Hawaii, where they spend about five months of each year.

The population study did not take into account juvenile or young-of-the-year white sharks. Also, the 219 figure does not include white sharks that utilize waters around Guadalupe Island, a seal rookery 150 miles west of Ensenada in Baja California.

That's because there's no evidence of Guadalupe white sharks visiting Central or Southern California coastal waters; those sharks, therefore, are believed to belong to a separate sub-population.

Whalers criticized in Japan for quitting season early

Japanese whalers headed home from the Southern Ocean after quitting early this season because of harassment from activists, might not like their homecoming reception.

ABC News in Australia quotes Masayuki Komatsu, a former delegate to the International Whaling Commission, as calling the whalers' position "cowardly."

The whalers' so-called scientific whaling missions, conducted annually in Antarctic waters, are run by the Institute of Cetacean Research through the Fisheries Agency.

The decision to quite early, after killing only 174 minke whales and two fin whales (the annual quota is 900-plus), was made because of relentless harassment from members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

The ABC story also quotes restaurateur Michio Kono, whose specialties are whale steaks, stew and sashimi, as saying, "I think the government is full of cowards. Whale meat is delicious and healthy. It's part of our culture. This decision is pitiful."

Kono's statement is not accurate. Whale meat contains high levels of mercury and fewer people in Japan are buying it, judging from growing stockpiles in freezers around the country.

It's unclear whether Japan will carry out another Southern Ocean whale hunt next season.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Australian Customs Service file photo

Twitter: @Pete_Thomas

Seized fins from protected sharks were bound for New York

California has pending legislation designed to outlaw the importation, sale and possession of shark fins.

Perhaps New York lawmakers should consider launching a similar process to help save sharks from the barbaric and unsustainable practice offinning.

A Fox News story out of Panama today involves the discovery of nearly a half ton of shark fins that had once belonged to protected hammerhead sharks. The packaged fins were found at the Central American nation's international airport and labeled as dried fish.

The container originated in Ecuador. Destination: New York City.

Though finning is illegal in U.S. waters, importation, sale and possession is not. Some states are taking upon themselves to enact bans that might result in the killing of fewer sharks for their fins, which are used to make shark-fin soup.

As many as 70 million sharks are killed annually for their fins,  and a good number are tossed back alive after their capture, to die a slow death. Many experts believe this rate of slaughter is unsustainable and that some species of sharks, which play a vital role in maintaining a healthy marine ecosystem, are threatened with extinction.

Most fins end up in China or in Asian communities, where shark-fin soup is considered a delicacy. Hawaii has already passed legislation, so you will not find the soup openly advertised there. California, which is a major hub for fins entering the U.S., probably will be next. It is hoped by environmental groups that other states -- why not New York? -- will follow suit.

-- Pete Thomas

Maine's lobster haul in 2010 was a record 93 million pounds

Maine is known for its lobsters and those who earn a living fishing for the delectable crustaceans are still counting their profits after a record haul of 93 million pounds in 2010.

Figures released by the state's Department of Marine Resources last Friday reveal the total catch, by an estimated 4,260 lobster fishermen, was worth $308.7 million.

That net value accounted for nearly 70% of the total value of all commercial marine species harvested in Maine last year.

While the catch is technically a record, larger hauls were made during robust economic times in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before state mandated reporting by lobster dealers.

According to the Bangor Times, this marks only the third time that the value of Maine's lobster landings topped $300 million. In 2005, the year after reporting became mandatory,  the catch was worth almost $318 million. In 2006, the value was $312 million.

The variations have to due with the poundage caught but also the price per pound. In 2010 lobster fishermen got an average of $3.31 per pound.

-- Pete Thomas

Rare (and ugly) ratfish pulled from Cabo San Lucas waters

Cabo San Lucas is known as the striped marlin capital of the world, but for the second time in less than two years a rare and hideous-looking ratfish was pulled from the waters off Baja California's tip by the crew aboard a Pisces Sportfishing vessel.

After the first catch in late spring of 2009, nobody knew what kind of fish it was at first, but it had a rat-like mouth and teeth and ultimately was determined to be a ratfish, or chimaera.

The latest catch was made Saturday aboard La Brisa. An Australian couple had just caught and released a marlin when something brown and shiny was spotted at the surface beyond Punta Gorda in the Sea of Cortez.

The crew gently lifted the dead specimen -- ratfish live in remarkably deep water and bottom-feed on small invertebrates -- into the boat and brought it back to the landing, where it was kept for scientists.

"It appears that this is a new species of ratfish, not known before and they are expected to publish a paper on it soon," said the Pisces blog. "We applaud the crew of La Brisa, as they have been working with the scientists on several projects and all of our crews are showing a keen interest in conservation and want to learn more. They did well to recognize this as something unusual and to get it to us intact to the freezer."

As for marlin fishing off Land's End, it remains unseasonably slow but sporadic catches are being made.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of Pisces crewman and ratfish courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

Has Japan's whaling program really gone belly-up?

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is understandably proud to have forced an early end to Japan's whaling effort this season in the Antarctic, and to have played a role, perhaps, in bringing an end to whaling in the region.

It's also understandable that the many critics of Sea Shepherd and Paul Watson, the group's controversial leader, have fallen silent during the past week.

That's because Sea Shepherd's relentless harassment  -- all those stink bombs, prop-fouling ropes and near other disruptive measures -- has, in fact, made a difference.

Though it's naive to believe Japanese whalers have harpooned their last leviathan, it seems that the nation's so-called "research" whaling program is either near death or seriously diminished.

That's probably due more to economic realities and increasing international opposition than fears of facing Sea Shepherd activists at sea. However, the Sea Shepherd presence -- this was the group's seventh consecutive harassment campaign -- has reduced the number of whales being killed, especially during the past two campaigns, providing for Japan's Fisheries Agency a smaller return on its investment.

Watson, in an interview Sunday night on "Fish Talk Radio" in Southern California, said Sea Shepherd's objective all along has been to "bankrupt" the Japanese whaling program, and that "it looks like we've finally succeeded."

Japan has used a "lethal research" loophole in the wording of a longstanding International Whaling Commission ban on commercial whaling to justify its hunts. The program, which is funded by government subsidies and the sale of whale meat, is deeply in debt.

Japanese whalers annually target about 900 minke whales and 50 fin whales, despite a shrinking demand for whale meat domestically. They succeeded in killing only 174 minke whales and two fin whales this season. They killed 506 whales last season.

Fisheries Agency officials have acknowledged that the whaling ships are not fast enough to outrun Sea Shepherd boats. According to the online newspaper, Yomiuri Daily, officials with Japan's  Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry recently discussed the possibility of ending research whaling in the Antarctic. But the same story quoted Minister Michihiko Kano as saying, "We can't say anything definite about that."

A high-ranking ministry official, who chose to remain anonymous, revealed that options under consideration include the continuation of research whaling, but with a Japan Coast Guard escort; building new vessels that are faster than Sea Shepherd's; replacing research whaling with commercial whaling; continuing with the current program; and ending the program.

The first two options are too costly and not practical. The third would involve coming to an accord with the IWC so that some level of commercial whaling could legally be carried out. The fourth is not practical given the Sea Shepherd factor. The fifth, of course, is what most people outside of Japan are hoping for. 

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out over the next year or so.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Sea Shepherd crew members gather at the bow of the Bob Barker during this season's Southern Ocean campaign against Japanese whaling. Credit: Sam Sielen / Sea Shepherd