# Wanted: Striped Bass Poachers in the Chesapeake



## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

From the Commercial Fisheries Outreach & Marketing Maryland DNR:

Poaching in the Bay - I'm sure everybody has heard by now about the 10 TONS of striped bass that were caught in illegal gill nets in the bay. In the event you haven't....

MD NRP officers found a gill net that was anchored off Bloody Point in the Chesapeake Bay. There were two problems with this net: 1.) It was set before the season officially started and 2.) It was anchored to the bay floor (which is illegal). MD law requires that all gill nets be tended, which means that fishermen must remain with the nets while they are in the water. Over the next couple of days two more were found.
<O</O
The ramifications of the illegal catch are that this added weight has been subtracted from the quota for the month. This puts the fishermen over the limit and has shut down the season. There will be a brief opening at the end of the month to catch the reserve quota that is put aside for the southern waterman. That is, of course, there isn't any more illegal catch found.
<O</O
The commercial and the recreational community have rallied together and have offered a reward of $6000 for the arrest of the individual(s).


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

That 5-ton haul was just the tip of the iceberg. This has been going on since the mid 1950s, a time when Maryland decided to place restrictions on harvesting striped bass. I have photos of striped bass entangled in illegal nets that were found in the middle Potomac River, off Bloody Point Light, the deep waters near Hooper Island and the hole near the mouth of the Choptank River. All of these locations were traditional winter fishing grounds for commercial watermen prior to outlawing anchored gill nets. The reason these places were popular is because during the winter months, especially late December and throughout January and part of February, big, migrating, cow striped bass forage in these deep pockets for what little food remains in the Chesapeake during the dead of winter. By the end of February these fish are on the move toward their natal rivers to spawn. They'll usually arrive in the rivers sometime in late February and remain until spawning is complete, which can be as late as mid to late May. Spawning usually takes place when water temperatures reach approximately 53 degrees, however, the most successful spawning usually occurs when water temperatures are a bit higher, often as high as 65 to 70 degrees.

As for the nets being tended--they're NOT! When director of DNR fisheries service Pete Jensen was in office he helped push a law through the Maryland General Assembly that allowed watermen to stray as far as 2 miles from the nets and still considered them to be tended. Essentially, the nets are put in place then the boat heads back to the warmth an comfort of the marina, or home, to await the next tidal change, which is when the best catches are traditionally made. When the tide slacks, they hop in their boats and return to the area to retrieve the nets and the day's catch.

As for the nets being anchored, that part is illegal, however, for each box of net, weights can be added to the bottom of the net to keep it stretched out. If I recall correctly, the weight amounted to 16-pounds at each end of a box of net, which translates to about 32 pounds for each stretch. This was more than enough to hold the net into the tide, thereby making it much more deadly to ANY fish that came in contact with the net.

When Jensen was in office he found a way to skirt the ban of outlawed, monofilament gill nets as well. A Korean company was manufacturing a multi-strand, monofilament gill net, mainly for use in foreign waters where monofilament net was legal. This particular type of net is nearly invisible to th fish, and quite lethal. When the fish enters the gill net the netting catches behind the fish's gills, thereby making it impossible for it to back out. As the fish struggles, the monofilament slices through the gill rakers, thus causing the fish to hemorrhage and quickly die. Because the fish is bled out, spoilage is reduced by a significant margin, thereby allowing watermen to leave the nets unattended for extended periods and still retain relatively high quality in the catch. When water temperatures are close to freezing, which in this particular area of the Chesapeake is about 30 degrees f, those dead fish will last in that anchored gill net for nearly a week before spoilage takes place. And, because the water is very cold, it takes much longer for the fish to die--even after loosing most of its blood volume.

Food for thought,

Gary


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

I could make an alarm "fish". You put it in the net and when the net is pulled up it sends you a text to go grab the poachers in the act.

It would be easy enough to make.

Regards,
Brad


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## lancelot9898 (Dec 30, 2008)

I don't know if this is related to the poaching problem, but I learned last night that some GPS tracking devices were secretly installed on some commercial fishing boats here on the Cheaspeake. Don't have any more details as to the number of fishing boats or location or even if a court order was obtained.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Brad,

There was some talk of placing radio tagged fish in illegal nets, but it was later abandoned because the illegal watermen have lots of friends that tell them when natural resources police and coast guard boats are in the area. I was a reporter on a Coast Guard sting operation near Tilghman Island one winter and the Coast Guard boat stationed itself on the opposite side of the bay and watched the area with radar for a week. No one got near the net the entire time. They decided to pull the net and it turned out to be a series of nets measuring nearly 8 miles long and containing more than 30,000 pounds of dead fish. Those that were not decaying were donated to charity organizations, while the others went to the nearby landfill. The Coast Guard said that if the poachers wanted their nets back they would have to come and get them from the Coast Guard Station--no one ever showed up. They later took the nets to the landfill, doused them with kerosene, and built one heck of a bonfire. 

Gary


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

A court order would have to be obtained for GPS tracking devices to be installed--very similar to wire-tap laws that were enacted many years ago. And, there's always a limited time frame for this type of operation.

Gary


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Unfortunately, there are always people willing to break the law, especially when it is a scarce resource. Whether it is fishing with gill nets or whaling, the punishments for these crimes really just aren't a sufficient deterrent.


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## QuickMick (Oct 15, 2009)

that is awful. its bad enough if it affects the recreational fisherman, but when you start messing with other families livelihoods it becomes despicable. anyone know the punishment for the offense? maybe they should make it so severe as to take the incentive out of the game? heres a mess i caught (legally). they are really fun to catch. and eat


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## RichH (Jul 10, 2000)

Here we go yet once again. 
They did this throughout the 80s in both the Ches and the NC Sounds ... and nearly wiped out the whole fishery of Striped Bass ("Rock") for almost the entire Atlantic Seaboard. This led to the infamous 'moratorium' that lasted almost a decade. At that time 'enforcement' totally failed and I would again surmise that it will fail again, until yet another 'moratorium' is imposed.

Its about time that Maryland and Virginia get serious in the protection and management of the fishery stocks: Confiscation and sale of boat and gear, huge fines + pokey time ... and apply the same measures to the 'buyers'. Oysters, crabs, turtles/terrapins, clams, eels, most market species of fish are almost all gone ... an outrage that continually repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

RichH said:


> Here we go yet once again.
> They did this throughout the 80s in both the Ches and the NC Sounds ... and nearly wiped out the whole fishery of Striped Bass ("Rock") for almost the entire Atlantic Seaboard. This led to the infamous 'moratorium' that lasted almost a decade. At that time 'enforcement' totally failed and I would again surmise that it will fail again, until yet another 'moratorium' is imposed.
> 
> Its about time that Maryland and Virginia get serious in the protection and management of the fishery stocks: Confiscation and sale of boat and gear, huge fines + pokey time ... and apply the same measures to the 'buyers'. Oysters, crabs, turtles/terrapins, clams, eels, most market species of fish are almost all gone ... an outrage that continually repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats.


Wouldn't handcuffing them and wrapping them in the gill nets and dumping them into the bay be a more suitable punishment, along with confiscating their gear and boat and auctioning them off.


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## PalmettoSailor (Mar 7, 2006)

RichH said:


> Here we go yet once again.
> They did this throughout the 80s in both the Ches and the NC Sounds ... and nearly wiped out the whole fishery of Striped Bass ("Rock") for almost the entire Atlantic Seaboard. This led to the infamous 'moratorium' that lasted almost a decade. At that time 'enforcement' totally failed and I would again surmise that it will fail again, until yet another 'moratorium' is imposed.
> 
> Its about time that Maryland and Virginia get serious in the protection and management of the fishery stocks: Confiscation and sale of boat and gear, huge fines + pokey time ... and apply the same measures to the 'buyers'. Oysters, crabs, turtles/terrapins, clams, eels, most market species of fish are almost all gone ... an outrage that continually repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats.


There are plenty of people on this board that will tell you there is no science to back up the proposition that (insert your desired species) is being decimated by over fishing.

They'll deny its a problem forever. "What the Atlantic cod fishery is gone?" No Problem we'll just fish Pacific Cod until that fishery collapses.


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

It sounds like the Oyster wars of yore.

I refuse to believe that with the technology of today, that we can't catch these guys. I am rapidly losing sympathy for these "poor, hardworking fishermen".


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## zedboy (Jul 14, 2010)

I'm a Virginia native and the last time I lived in the States it was in MD.

This stuff is a crying shame.

Not that Lake Ontario is really much better - I don't think anything lives in there other than zebra mussels.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

BubbleheadMd said:


> It sounds like the Oyster wars of yore.
> 
> I refuse to believe that with the technology of today, that we can't catch these guys. I am rapidly losing sympathy for these "poor, hardworking fishermen".


I have a lot of sympathy for the hardworking fishermen, but very little for the poachers who ruin the livelihood of the honest fishermen. Please don't mistake one for the other. The majority of fishermen are honest, hardworking people.


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## rmeador (Jan 16, 2010)

Be very careful of advocating asset forfeiture as a penalty for this sort of crime. It inevitably gets used against the innocent. Under our justice system, the asset itself is charged with the crime (a really strange concept) and it must be proven innocent by its owner (there is no presumption of innocence for assets). It also can be found guilty of the offense even if the owner is acquitted, or even if the owner is never charged. To make matters worse, many times in such cases the funds from the sale of the assets go back to the police department that did the seizing, which creates an incentive structure for doing more (and more questionable) seizures.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

The commercial rape of Chesapeake Bay's natural resources is something I've written about for more than 4 decades in various publications. It's nothing new, and much like the drug trade, this will probably continue until the resource(s) are decimated to the point where there is no profit, at which point the practice will stop.

There is not a single incidence of a saltwater fishery being wiped out by environmental conditions--not one! Every species that has been decimated has been commercially exploited to the point where it is no longer profitable to fish for it, at which point those that caused the species untimely demise switch to another species. It began with oysters in Chesapeake Bay, which was a goldmine for commercial watermen using dredges, patten tongs and hand tongs to completely wipe out massive bars of oysters throughout the bay's entire length.

During the summer months, when oysters were not viable, power dredgers predated upon soft-shell clams, a species that was rarely consumed by Maryland and Virginia residents, but was considered a delicacy in New England. The beds were wiped out within just a few decades. Dredgers moved to shallower waters in hopes of continuing to ply their deadly trade, but in the process they dredged up massive aquatic grass beds, which rapidly added to the Chesapeake's demise in water quality.

When oysters and clams were no longer available in commercially viable quantities, watermen switched to the bay's famed blue crab, a species know far and wide for it's sweet, white meat that was transformed into some of the best crab-cakes available anywhere in the world. When the crabs were not available, watermen pulled their crab pots and put their nets in the water, targeting anything that swam. 

The first finfish species to be wiped out were Atlantic croaker, a fish that ranged up to 4 pounds in weight and was readily available from March through November throughout much of Chesapeake Bay. Early in the season prices ranged up to $1.20 per pound, but after a few short weeks the price quickly dropped to less than 10 cents a pound--the markets were quickly flooded.

When croaker were wiped out, the next species to be targeted was weakfish, a species that entered Chesapeake and Delaware bays in huge numbers during early spring and were easily ensnared in gill nets in the lower bay's deeper waters. Tangier and Pocomoke sounds in Chesapeake Bay, and much of lower and middle Delaware Bay were the prime areas, both of which produced weakfish (also known as sea trout) to 17 pounds. One of the area's most popular fishing tournaments, the Millford Delaware Weakfish Tournament, drew thousands of recreational anglers every year to participate in their 4-day event, a tournament that offered huge, cash prizes to those who managed to land the largest fish. The impact on the local economy was in the millions. Commercial exploitation of the species eventually caused the fishery to collapse, the tournament ceased to exist and Millford's economy went down the tube.

Striped bass was the next species in line. At the time there was essentially no regulation in place to curtail the catch, commercially or recreationally. It took a few decades to wipe them out, but by the early 1970s it was obvious the species was in it's death throes. Maryland's Department of Natural Resources, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and other federal agencies ignored pleas by recreational anglers to place catch restrictions on the fishery, both commercial and recreational. When the fishery totally collapsed, Maryland DNR decided to impose a moratorium, which lasted just over 4 years. Most other states said the problem was Maryland's alone, and Virginia did not participate in the moratorium during the first few years. Northern states, where migrating, larger fish were target, did not participate at all, but a few did eventually enact catch restrictions when pressured by ASMFC and Maryland DNR.

The striped bass fishery appears at this stage to be headed back to the brink of disaster. Complete year classes are missing from the fishery, and commercial exploitation seems to be the only plausible explanation. Anyone that has spent any time at all on Chesapeake Bay during the past few years will tell you that very few recreational anglers are seen plying the bays water in recent years. While Maryland DNR continues to sell lots of fishing licenses, the number continues to decline every year. The only thing in abundance in Chesapeake Bay seems to be crab pots and commercial nets.

Gary


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

+1 Gary. Absolutely fantastic writeup.

If I recall correctly, stripped bass are hermaphroditic. They are male until they reach a certain size and then they turn female. So if non make it to x years old, then there aren't any females to make the next generation. This makes them particularly sensitive to overfishing.

Regards,
Brad


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Yes, I believe this is the case until they reach age 4, at which time many migrate out of the bay and up the Atlantic coast to New England where they spend much of the summer. They usually return in late fall, many winter in the bay, but there is a significant number that winter along the coast of North Carolina as well.

One species I neglected was Atlantic menhaden, which is the prime forage species for nearly everything that swims. Their stocks have been decimated by commercial interests, which ultimately effects the water quality of Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and the physical health of striped bass, bluefish, weakfish and a host of other species, both pelagic and anadromous. When striped bass and croaker ran out of menhaden and bay anchovy to eat, they switched to young, blue crab, pea crab, mud crab and anything else they could consume to prevent starvation.

Gary


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## lapworth (Dec 19, 2008)

sailingdog said:


> I have a lot of sympathy for the hardworking fishermen, but very little for the poachers who ruin the livelihood of the honest fishermen. Please don't mistake one for the other. The majority of fishermen are honest, hardworking people.


Not sure how they do things up your way but I have to agree with Bubble these guys have little if any respect for others or the Bay.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

lapworth said:


> Not sure how they do things up your way but I have to agree with Bubble these guys have little if any respect for others or the Bay.


That's been my experience as well. The vast majority of the folks fighting the institution of aquaculture in Maryland have been commercial watermen. Their political influence over the years has kept the aquaculture industry out of Maryland, and now that it is finally in Maryland, the roadblocks put in place by Maryland DNR, Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies has made it nearly impossible for someone to enter into this industry. It takes a year or more just to get all the necessary permits to raise oysters. And, the cost of the permits alone is enough to bankrupt the average person--even if you only want to grow oysters on a small scale. If you want to raise fish, it's even worse. It seems as if everyone wants a piece of the pie, thus taking most of the profit margin out of the aquaculture business. The irony of this is that in neighboring Virginia, Cherrystone Clams, which is a massive aquaculture operation that has several locations working year round, employs hundreds of watermen that would be on the unemployment roles had it not been for aquaculture.

Had it not been for opposition by the Maryland Watermen's Association over the past two decades, Maryland would been light years ahead of where it is now in the aquaculture industry. Keep in mind that the state continues to provide watermen with "make work" jobs that cost taxpayers millions of dollars every year, jobs that not only do little or nothing for the health and wellbeing of Chesapeake Bay and its fisheries, but additionally, are specifically designed to assist those that continue to harvest wild stocks of finfish and shellfish.

Don't get me wrong--I DO NOT dislike commercial watermen. The vast majority of them that I have met are nice folks that were misled into believing the Chesapeake's natural resources were endless. While some still believe this is the case, most are now fully aware of the situation that exists. A few continue to plunder the resources illegally, knowing that enforcement personnel are few and far between. It's only when they really get greedy that they get caught. Others, such as the guy that surveyed my boat this winter, have taken up other vocations because they can no longer financially survive on what they can legally harvest from the bay.

The major culprit in the destruction of the Chesapeake's natural resources is the very agency that was created to prevent this from happening--Maryland's Department of Natural Resources. Keep in mind the sole reason for the existence of this agency is to protect, preserve and enhance the natural resources in Maryland--a job they've never done. If you don't believe this is the the case, open your mind and try to find a single, natural resource that the agency has protected, particularly those in Chesapeake Bay. The short list of failures include: Atlantic croaker, yellow perch, white perch, channel catfish, striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, blue crab, oyster, softshell clam, Atlantic menhaden, bay anchovy, grass shrimp, a dozen species of aquatic grasses, Canada geese, all species of duck, diamond-back terrapin, painted turtle, American eel, the list is endless. Each of the above species has been, and many still are, at the brink of extinction before Maryland DNR decided to take any action to prevent their complete demise. In every instance, it was an alarm raised by the general public that forced this agency to respond to a crisis. And, more often than not, DNR's response was to create some type of lengthy, bureaucratic study to determine if the problem really exists. This, and many similar agencies such as Maryland's Department of Environment, should have been eliminated decades ago and replaced with a streamlined agency that had no political connections. If that would have been the case, the bay would not have the ills it currently endures.

Sorry about the rants,

Gary


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## zedboy (Jul 14, 2010)

travlineasy said:


> [...] and a host of other species, both pelagic and anadromous. [...]


(reaching for dictionary)

Gary, you are a bona fide Maryland state treasure.


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## Kiltmadoc (Nov 10, 2009)

Achh, who wants to eat striped bass anyway? They are full of poison:
Wild striped bass - Seafood Selector - Environmental Defense Fund


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## lapworth (Dec 19, 2008)

Looking at those charts I shouldn't be alive.


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

lapworth said:


> Looking at those charts I shouldn't be alive.


You just have a tough constitution. :laugher


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

The Maryland Department of Environment continually updates it's fish consumption health advisory charts, the last one being in 2007. Much of this seems to be politically driven, the agency claiming at one time that commercially caught fish were perfectly safe to eat, while those caught by hook and line were not. WHAT? This, of course, was sheer lunacy, and I suspect the statement was made to the press in a futile attempt to protect, and possibly bolster, Maryland's failing seafood industry. 

If you carefully examine the charts, most species have been contaminated with either PCBs or mercury, both of which are lethal. And, from my experience working in the medical field for nearly 15 years, there is no safe level of PCB or mercury. Even in tiny amounts, spaced over a wide time frame, both are toxic to every form of life. And, from what I've read, mercury is a cumulative toxin that the body cannot rid itself of. It is so toxic that when a school nurse accidentally breaks a thermometer the school is usually shut down until a hazmat team comes and clears any remnants of mercury from the area. Now, that may be a bit of overkill on the part of the school system, but what idiot at the Maryland Department of Environment, Health Department, FDA, etc... decided that we can safely consume mercury and PCBs embedded in our food supplies?

If you want seafood, go for the farm raised variety--it's much fresher, and much safer to consume. Here are a few guidelines for selecting seafood that I wrote about several years ago that may be helpful:

1. Use the "sniff test." Smell the fish, crab meat, etc... If it smells fishy, it has spoiled, or in the process of spoiling. And, there's a good chance it's loaded with bacteria.

2. Firmness. If the product, particularly fish fillets, are firm, this is a good indication it is relatively fresh. The term "relatively" essentially means it was caught with two days, properly iced down or flash frozen, and shipped iced or frozen to the retailer within a day of reaching the wholesaler.

3. Local (home grown) does not translate to fresh. The sniff test will prevail here.

4. Toxins. Oily species of fish tend to contain the most toxins. Bluefish, tuna, king mackerel (kingfish), billfish, weakfish, etc... are on the list of those containing the highest levels of mercury. Striped bass, flounder, black sea bass, shark, spiny dogfish, perch and most freshwater species usually contain less mercury and PCBs, but they still have relatively high levels in the fatty tissue just beneath the skin, and the dark tissue along the lateral lines. Blue crab contains high levels of toxins in the hepata-pancreas (mustard).

5. Remove the skin and rinse thoroughly. With many species, particularly those that are somewhat oily, removing the skin and thoroughly rinsing the fillets in cold, fresh, running water will decrease the amount of toxins by a significant degree. You CANNOT get rid of ALL the mercury and PSBs because some of it is embedded in the meat itself, but removing as much as possible will help to some degree.

6. Preparation. All forms of seafood should be thoroughly cooked. Granted, there are Sushi Bars and Raw Bars that serve raw seafood, claiming "No one ever got sick eating at my restaurant." Yeah, right--I still believe in the tooth fairy, too! Consuming raw seafood is foolish, especially in this day and age when the water quality where that animal was caught is considered highly toxic or bacteria laden. This includes all of Chesapeake Bay and it's tributaries, and for the most part, every major body of water in the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia.

7. Farm raised is safer. Most aquaculture operations must meet rigorous health standards and are inspected regularly. This is true of both finfish and shellfish. In many instances, the water flowing in raceways is filtered to minimize contamination of the product. Shellfish, such as oysters and clams are usually raised on floating platforms so they are not subjected to the toxins found in the body of water's bottom sediment. When harvested, the process is very quick, efficient and in most instances the product is cleaned, washed thoroughly and flash frozen. With the exception of shrimp, shellfish, are usually iced down and shipped live. Farm raised shrimp, also called zebra and banded shrimp, are harvested, beheaded, cleaned, washed and flash frozen, then usually shipped the same day. It's rare that farm-raised shrimp fail the sniff test.

8. Eat small portions. The days of consuming huge quantities of seafood are over.

Eat Mo Chicken! 

Gary


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

Farm raised fish aren't the be-all, end-all though. These fish are jammed into close proximity to each other for extended times. Think of it as a dirty city. They get sea lice (yes, there is such a thing). They also transmit the sea lice to wild fish that pass near the fish farm containment net.


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

not to go to far off topic...but here is a link to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program, you can print off a pocket card to keep on you by region/state  Download a Regional Seafood Watch Card | Monterey Bay Aquarium


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

travlineasy said:


> Eat Mo Chicken!
> 
> Gary


Then the chicken farms will pollute the bay even more


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## kd3pc (Oct 19, 2006)

just proves the age old adage of don't crap where you eat or drink...

what do you expect when for 40+ years WE dump 7 states worth of manure, pollution, chemicals and sewage in to the Bay.

CBF brokers away a solution with those know it alls at the EPA, and we still have no solution...just a lot more chatter and even more platitudes...

I will likely not live long enough for the Bay to be cleaned up, let alone management of it's resources to be made on a common sense basis.


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## SVCarolena (Oct 5, 2007)

"Farm raised is safer. Most aquaculture operations must meet rigorous health standards and are inspected regularly."

Just one word of warning on this statement - when buying farm raised, pay careful attention to where the seafood is raised. I started paying closer attention at the grocery a couple years ago, and was amazed at the amount of seafood that comes out of Asia and, in particular, China. I'm fine with farm raised from the US/Canada (and am sure these foods do meet "rigorous health standards" and inspections), but there is no way I'm buying farm raised from overseas. We all know that track record when it comes to food safety. And, as an added benefit, we can keep our dollars closer to home, but that is for another thread.


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

Gary please state your qualifications to make such grandeois broad sweeping statements.

Your proper methods for cleaning fish were good and appropriate.

80% of chicken has salomonella.. Just like fish and seafood if not handled properly it can be even more deadly. It also has proper cook to temps just like seafood, which by the way does not take into account the toxins already produced. In most commercial food establishements chicken is the most dangerous of the foods contained in them, not fish. There is a reason it is stored on the bottom below all other foods. Chicken farms are huge polluters of their surroundings including their streams and groundwater. The inhumane overcrowding of the hens, the various strains of avian flu, sorry I would not rank chicken as safer than fish.

T37Chef is correct...use the Montery Bay Seafood list..it is less politically motivated than most.

As Carlena pointed out farm raised is not what its cracked up to me either. Most farm raised is outside the US as he pointed out. Farm raised salmon often has coloring agents added which may have the potential to cause cancer. Farm raised promotes overcrowding where fish caught in the wild that does not happen.

Nothing is safe anymore. Grains are genitically spliced and may contain genes from animals in them to prevent spoilage. There is no perfect food.

Best advice is to eat as much locally produced/ caught food as possible. You can see the conditions at processing. In todays world most food is processed, thousands of miles from consumption in big clearinghouse style operations where one mistake in food safety promotes a recall of millions of tons of product. 

This is a byproduct of us becomming a "civilized" country. 100 years ago we ate our own home grown, canned and slaughtered food. 40 % of the population was required to feed the 100%. Now with technoplogy and "civilization" 5% feeds 100% which lets the other 95% become more productive to society by becomming doctors, lawyers, chefs, scientists writers, road builders, bankers etc.

There is no magic bullet here. First rule of food safety if possible is know where your food came from, how it was grown, how it was processed.

Dave


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

chef2sail said:


> T37Chef is correct
> Dave


Now that may be the smartest and most accurate thing you have ever typed, well except that I am also the best looking! :laugher        uke


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

Kiltmadoc said:


> Achh, who wants to eat striped bass anyway? They are full of poison:
> Wild striped bass - Seafood Selector - Environmental Defense Fund


Look what's on the eco-best list:

Tuna: U.S. Atlantic caught by troll/pole​
This just increases my desire to sail out to the canyon (100 miles) with an old Penn reel and sail around for a day or two before sailing back!

If anyone else is interested, please let me know. Possibly late August 2011.

Regards,
Brad


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

T37Chef said:


> Now that may be the smartest and most accurate thing you have ever typed, well except that I am also the best looking! :laugher        uke


And a legend in your own mind...


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

OMG....I cannot type accurately.....we all know that....

(Chefs Brotherhood requires I say no ill of other chefs)

Dave


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Most of the farm-raised salmon come from Chilean sources, the quality is incredible and so is the taste--far better than wild caught. And, I recently read a report that if an orca (killer whale) washes up on the beach, it must be disposed of at a hazmat site. The reason being is that killer whales consume huge quantities of wild, Pacific salmon, fish that are so contaminated with PCBs, mercury and large quantities of other toxins, that the orca's meat is considered too toxic to just disposed of in a landfill.

The vast majority of the crab meat consumed in Maryland, Virginia, and most other states now comes from South East Asia, imported by Phillips Seafood, which is the largest distributor of crab meat in the nation. The crab meat is from a different species of crab, one that closely resembles a blue crab, but has longer, thinner claws, a somewhat larger, thinner body and the meat is a bit more bland. It is steamed, pasteurized, vacuum-packed in one-pound tins and shipped via air freight daily to U.S. distributors.

Rainbow trout, which are available in most super markets, are raised in free-flowing raceways. Yes, they are jam-packed in the raceways, the water flows through the raceways at a very high volume, and at the end of the raceways there is a sewage treatment facility that is far more efficient than Baltimore's Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant, D.C.s Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant, and the 130 others along the shores of Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers.

Talapia, which have recently been portrayed as among the safest fish to eat, are farm raised and essentially a member of the carp family. They grow fast, the meat is relatively firm, but very bland. It only tastes good when highly seasoned or buried in highly spiced breading. The fish are raised in large ponds in the south, and in some northern states, warehouses equipped with huge, circular tanks. The water in the tanks is recirculated after passing through a series of filters. If you get the opportunity to visit one of these facilities you'll notice the water is crystal clear. In contrast, Chesapeake Bay and our nearby coastal waters are now mostly a mix of green and brown--UGH!

Striped bass hybrids are raised in raceways and large, freshwater impoundments, some measuring 20 acres or more. The same type of impoundments are also used for raising channel catfish. The water quality for striped hybrids and catfish is maintained by a constant flushing action which is created by diverting water from fast-flowing inlet creeks, while the water from the outflow system is passed through a sewage treatment facility.

Freshwater shrimp are often raised in rice paddies, many of which are in South and Central America. Some come from South East Asian sources as well. The overall quality is incredible, the taste and size is excellent and the texture is quite similar to that of Gulf shrimp.

Now, lets address the sea lice. Sea lice are an ocean species that are essentially parasites that attach to the body and gills of all ocean species of finfish. Chesapeake Bay striped bass, which spend much of their adult lives migrating up and down the Atlantic coast become covered with several species of sea lice every summer. When the enter Chesapeake Bay during late fall those sea lice begin dropping off of them because they cannot tolerate low salinities. The best evidence of this is when they enter their natal rivers to spawn. Close examination of those that have just arrived from the Atlantic reveals larger lice attached to their bodies, while tiny, white lice are attached to their gills. After just a few days of being in the lower salinity areas of the bay, the gills turn from a grayish coloration to bright pink. The body lice drop off and die. Fish raised in net pens do not transmit sea lice to fish residing outside the pens. It's an old wives tale (sorry ladies) that was created by those individuals that wish to curtail aquaculture and continue to plunder wild finfish stocks.

And, yes, chicken poop is a major contributor to the Chesapeake and Delaware bay's ills. Ironically, the company that wanted to construct a clean electrical power plant on Maryland's lower eastern shore a few years ago, one that would burn huge quantities of chicken poop, was shot down by Maryland's General Assembly. To this day I have not been able to determine why a couple idiot legislators could block the construction of this plant. But, I guess that says a lot for our legislators, doesn't it!

Cheers,

Gary


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Brad,

If you want to catch a tuna, probably be a good idea to stay a bit closer to shore. The best catches of bluefin, which is the best for sushi, are usually made 20 to 35 miles offshore at locations southeast of Ocean City, The Hotdog, Hambone, Jack Spot, Parking Lot, 26-Mile Hill, etc...The bluefin usually show up sometime in late May to early June and will stick around for a couple months at best. Yellowfin tuna, which are a bit milder, can be found at the canyons, Baltimore, Poor Mans, Wilmington, Washington and Norfolk are always good bets, mostly in late summer. Unfortunately, you're only allowed 1 bluefin tuna per boat, and while you can keep more yellowfin, I'm not sure what this year's limit and seasons are.

Chef2Sail,

In the 15 years I worked in medicine in two of the area's largest medical institutions I didn't see a single case of salmonella. I'm sure that some patients that came in with a roaring case of diarrhea probably had contracted the disease, but I'm not sure, and back then diagnosis was not easy. Keep in mind that during the 50s and 60s people ate raw beef and onions on rye in Baltimore like you would eat a McDonalds hamburger today. Oysters on the halfshell, rare sliced beef and raw, ground beef were commonplace at bull roasts, all of which attracted huge crowds of people, who consumed massive quantities of food and washed it down with massive quantities of National Bohemian Beer. No one that I know of ever got sick or contracted salmonella from food consumed at these events. 

Now, if you look at the statistics compiled by the USDA, most of the salmonella contamination of chicken was found on meat that was not skinned. The percentage of contamination was much lower on chicken meat that was skinless. Most of the salmonella contamination on fish was from fish that were gutted--not filleted. Keep in mind that salmonella usually originates in the intestines and feces of the contaminated animal or fish. And, the vast majority of the problems are caused by mishandling.

Now, if you sincerely believe that consuming locally grown, organic products makes them safer you better check the facts. There have been dozens of studies that show locally, and organic grown foods are far less safe to consume, are often contaminated by salmonella, and in many instances, they're not inspected by anyone. It's a buyer beware situation and the consumer bears the brunt of the problems.

Bottom line--don't slurp those raw oysters, cook your chicken well, and fillet your fish carefully. The don't call it Montezuma's Revenge for nothing! 

Almost forgot. My credentials came the hard way: 15 years working in cardio-pulmonary medicine at Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland Hospitals, and 35+ years working as a freelance outdoor writer for some of the largest newspapers and outdoor magazines in the U.S., specializing in recreational fishing, boating, wild-game cooking, etc...

Cheers,

Gary


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## chrisncate (Jan 29, 2010)

> Keep in mind that during the 50s and 60s people ate *raw beef and onions on rye* in Baltimore like you would eat a McDonalds hamburger today. *Oysters on the halfshell, rare sliced beef and raw, ground beef were commonplace at bull roasts, all of which attracted huge crowds of people, who consumed massive quantities of food and washed it down with massive quantities of National Bohemian Beer.* No one that I know of ever got sick or contracted salmonella from food consumed at these events.


My man, you make me hungry for summer! I married a _real_ Glen Burnie girl, spawned from exactly the hearty South Bawlmer stock you speak of above. Cate's family is _many_ generations long of S Balt blue collar folk who know and continue the traditions you mention above, still to this day... It all still exists right here in the town time forgot...

_Hon._

(and to be 'onest wit ya, dount forget the snowballs either pwease)


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

Gary,

600 people die annualy from salmonella. Over 2 million cases reported ANNUALLY. You must have been in the OR when they came in. Not just Montezumas revenge. Salmonella in elderly/ children and people with compromised immunities is not laughing manner or should be dismissed as simple diherrea.

Great credentials....but you you are DEAD wrong about salamonella. I do trust the CDC here. Those in the food industry know the dangers of chicken. The health departments as well as HACCP regulators ( I am one) know also. Its also camflobactor. Chicken not seafood is ther most dangerous meat product in a restuarant or in the grocery store. Any meat/ fish/ protein handled incorrectly can be a problem

Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States

Salmonella on the rise in chicken meat - USATODAY.com


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## lancelot9898 (Dec 30, 2008)

With all of this talk about problems with our food supply, it's a wonder that people live longer today than they did in the "good old days".


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

travlineasy said:


> Brad,
> 
> If you want to catch a tuna, probably be a good idea to stay a bit closer to shore. The best catches of bluefin, which is the best for sushi, are usually made 20 to 35 miles offshore at locations southeast of Ocean City...


Thanks Gary, great posts! +1

I'll be fishing off Montauk. I heard that last year the fish were in closer. I have a friend that used to be a captain out there, he'll clue me in, if not join the trip.

Regards,
Brad


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## norsearayder (Dec 19, 2006)

the problem with stripers on the east coast is commercial fishing.each state has there own laws[here in maine there is no commercial fishing] mass has diff laws and allows the comm fish.this goes on in each state since early times.when the ches was first fished a fisher caught 5&6 foot fish from the beach with handlines.the human beings on earth now catch 500000000 lbs of fish a day


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

The main reason people live longer is the advancements in medicine. Keep in mind that anti-diarrheal medications have only become available during the past 40 years, and if my memory serves me correctly, Penicillin didn't become available until about 1936. Cardiovascular angioplasty was just getting started about 30 years ago, and vascular stents that save lives every day were not around 20 years ago. 

As Chef2Sail stated there are lots of elderly that die of salmonella every year. Many, many more died of the same problem during the U.S. Civil War. The reason being that they essentially pooped themselves to death, dying primarily from dehydration. Same holds true with infants and very young children that die of salmonella--they primarily die of dehydration. Most of the elderly people that die of salmonella are usually those in nursing homes and assisted living centers, locations where the disease can run rampant through the population in just a few short days. In most instances, this is from poor food handling techniques and unsanitary conditions in the facility itself. Keep in mind that salmonella can be passed on by a simple handshake, which is pretty scary for those of us that come in contact with large numbers of people every day.

Now, you won't get an argument from me that chicken is the most dangerous meat served in restaurants--I am quite aware of that. Any time I'm served chicken the first thing I usually do is cut it in half at the thickest part and look for any undercooked meat. I have discovered undercooked chicken on more than one occasion. I also had the opportunity to tour the plants of two, large, chicken processors on Maryland's lower eastern shore while gathering background information for a newspaper column pertaining to the poultry industry. I learned a lot!

For example, meat cutters working in grocery stores, folks that cut the meat you consume, all wear aprons, caps and gloves to prevent human contamination of the meat they process. Some even wear surgical masks. The cutting boards, which are made of a special plastic, are soaked in bleach-water every evening, which kills all forms of bacteria. Everything in the cold area where the meat is butchered is kept at temperatures just above freezing, usually about 38 degrees to prevent spoilage of the product. While the cutting boards, knives, tables, etc.. are all wiped down with bleach-water and other disinfectant products every day, there is one item that is rarely wiped down--the handle to the meat locker when the uncut meats are stored. So when the meat cutter goes into the meat locker to obtain another beef quarter, his gloved hand touches the handle, which in turn contaminates his gloves with whatever was on that handle.

It's not a sterile world out there folks, therefore a bit of common sense must be used when consuming foods. And, more recently it has been determined that those organically grown vegetables may have caused far more salmonella cases than any of the meats. Keep in mind that there are a lot of folks that eat raw vegetables, vegetables that were fertilized with copious amounts of manure. Salmonella originates in the GI tract. Next time you eat that stalk of celery, you may want to scrub it off REAL GOOD before dipping it into the Ranch Dressing. 

Cheers,

Gary


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## RichH (Jul 10, 2000)

I'll offer a reasonable prognostication on the current 'fishery problem' on the Chesapeake.

1. the 'Watermen' are a very large block of voters - a 'special interest'
2. Politicians always need 'campaign funds' to get reelected 
3. Amassing campaign funds for re-election is ALWAYS more important than 'votes' to a politician. 
4. You can Fill in the blank from here on what IS going to happen: _______________________________ .

Dont think for one nano-second that the 'poachers' are the only ones who are corrupt for the 'eventual outcome' of the poaching problem. MONEY and who gets it to be reelected is what drives just about 'all social ills', etc. Buy-off your local politico, more than the 'opposition' .... and the 'problem' somehow always disappears.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

At one time in Maryland's history, watermen were a very powerful special interest group, however, this is no longer the case. What kept them in power were a handful of lower Eastern Shore senators, with Fred Maucus leading the Eastern Shore Delegation. Fred passed away, much of the Eastern Shore turned into high-dollar, waterfront communities and the general political atmosphere changed dramatically.

Additionally, when W. Peter Jensen and a number of other Maryland DNR officials lost their jobs and retired, the connecting link between the Maryland Watermen's Association and DNR no longer existed. This made a huge difference in their policies.

Finally, recreational fishing groups such as the Maryland Saltwater Sportfisherman's Association (MSSA), Pasadena Sport Fishing, Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) and several national organizations became involved, legislators in Annapolis were confronted with hundreds of recreational anglers at fisheries management hearings, and just a handful of commercial watermen.

I've always said Maryland has the best politicians that money can buy, and I don't believe that will change--EVER! Some of the same old cronies seem to get elected regardless of how bad they are. I wish I could change some of this, but after all these years I no longer want to continue the battle. That's why I bought a bigger boat and intend to do a lot more sailing in the few remaining years I have left. Come 2012, by aging body fully intends to fill the boat with food and booze, put up the sails in early October, and head 1,200 miles south to Marathon, where I'll spend the winter. Might just sneak out to the Dry Tortugas for a week or two, catch a mess of flannel-mouth grunts, dip em' in beer batter and fry em' up golden brown. Winter and politics in Maryland both suck!

Gary


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## lapworth (Dec 19, 2008)

travlineasy said:


> Winter and politics in Maryland both suck!
> 
> Gary


If the world didn't suck we would all fall off.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

I'd point out that one issue is the rise of CAFO type feed lot raised BEEF. Cows were not evolved to eat corn, and those that are corn-fed typically have acidic stomach pHs. This allows the e. coli found in their digestive tracts to develop acid resistance, which allows the e. coli to survive the first line of defense against food-borne pathogens, the acid in our stomachs. 

If we didn't have CAFO feed lot raised beef, we'd have a lot fewer e. coli outbreak problems.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

sailingdog said:


> If we didn't have CAFO feed lot raised beef, we'd have a lot fewer e. coli outbreak problems.


I agree--force-fed cattle have lots of problems. And, the ground beef processors have recently put a new light on just how bad the situation can be with only a minor contamination problem. I ate venison for almost 20 years--almost considered a form of health food by some. After 20 years I couldn't stand the smell of it cooking. That big hunk of fillet mignon from BJ's Wholesale Club tasted so much better--especially after it was marinated in Yoshida Gourmet Sauce for about 30 minutes, then sprinkled with Montreal Steak Seasoning and broiled over a hot bed of real charcoal. Wash that down with a tall glass of Kickapoo Joy Juice (Green Coconut Margaretta) and you'll never eat another piece of venison. 

Cheers,

Gary


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

Say it aint so....I hope you do not use the McCormick Montreal Seasoning,,,,its main ingredient being salt and has artifically chemically made flavors....No way You would ever have to worry about PCBs or mercury Poisoning from wild fish as you would probably get high blood pressure and cancer first

Personally I make a batch of my own dry rub Montreal type seasoning from spices ( coarse black pepper, corriander, granulater onion, granulated garlic, crushed dill seeds, cayenne pepper, cumin and paprika) and store it airtighty to use on grilled meats.

Additionally BJ wholesale only sells Select grade tenderloins, Select being the lowest grading of edible meat (aside from commercial uses)...you can do better in a Safeway/ Giant and get at least choce meats there. Wegmans and others sell prime. BJ sells choice meats in its Strip Loins, Chuck and Prime subprimals. Select tenderloins have the cosistacncy of liver and no marbling at all ( in a cut of meat which doesnt have much to begin with). Select tenderloins should only really be used for roasting whole and carving as opposed to srteak form. This allows you to season the meat better using a dry rub of spices. Avoid salt before cooking as it draws the moisture out of the meat

Dave


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

talk about going off topic LMAO


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Dave,

You might want to head up to the BJ's just north of you on U.S. Route 1, buy a pack of their fillet mignon, then tell me that the meat has no marbleized fat. I beg to differ with you on that one, for sure. The last time I purchased a tenderloin there it was labeled CHOICE--NOT SELECT, though select+ is actually pretty darned good. Now some folks can afford Wagyu breed beef, but it's way beyond my means. I guess it really tastes good, but personally, I don't enjoy the taste of fat.

I'll also argue that salt causes high blood pressure. It does not in relatively healthy individuals. Salt can exacerbate high blood pressure with patients that already experience hypertension--but it does not cause hypertension. 

Some folks make a great imitation of Montreal Steak Seasoning and your's sounds like it would be right tasty. The ingredients in McCormic Montreal Steak Seasoning are:Salt, black pepper, red pepper, garlic, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural flavors and extractives of paprika. 

Weber Chicago Steak Seasoning consists of: sea salt, spices, dehydrated garlic, dehydrated onion, dehydrated red bell pepper and sweet red pepper flakes.

WHERE'S THE BAD CHEMICALS YOU TALKED ABOUT? There are NO carcinogens in either product!

Gary


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Yep, I have to agree, the topic has sure shifted a long way from a couple outlaw poachers. I think I'll mix up another Margaretta. 

Gary


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

Living in the Towson, Md area as I do, the BJ on Rte 1 is the one I am a member of and shop at. You are mistaken. The tenderloin there is select only. Large difference between Wagyu (Kobe Imperial) beef and a good choice or prime tenderloin .

The fat you refer to (marbeling) which is absent in a low quality liver like steak you are buying you do not eat. It actually turns to liquid under the proper heat of cooking and serves to baste the meat with flavor. This is different from the fat surrounding the meat. You dont have to pay Kobe Beef prices to get a good choice Filet.

I guess I should give up here I do not want to suffer death by writing (writer) You are an expert on all you write about,fish, chicken, medicine, health, food safety, food and cooking. Like most writers and the written word some of the bold statements you have made are are in question, but everyone is entitled to their views. I defer to your obvious commanding knowledge of all things food. 

Back to the "sailing Nature of the site, where do you keep your Morgan. Sounds like you may be in our area.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

The Morgan is currently in Rock Hall, but moving to Perryville in the spring. My Catalina is currently in Perryville and for sale on Craig's List Baltimore.

Cheers,

Gary


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## SVAuspicious (Oct 31, 2006)

chef2sail said:


> Say it aint so....
> 
> *snip*
> 
> granulater onion, granulated garlic


Dave Dave Dave - you don't mince your own?

*grin*


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

In the interest of keeping things on topic, because going off topic in a thread on sailnet NEVER happens... 

for me, its hard to beat a good grilled steak of beef seasoned with kosher salt & fresh ground pepper  What is all this talk about seasoning mixes anyway


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

Rubs chef....dry rubs. Like you I rarely bastardize the taste of good quality meat.


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

Dave touche...its what is use in my dry rubs which i store


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

Perryvile...never been quite to there. We usually get up to Havre de Grace in the fall when the weather is cooler. They have a really nice area to walk in by the municipal marina and the town is kind of like a 1/10 size version of Cape May. Nice restaurants too.

Its such a long winding motor in there with some real skinny water on the sides we dont usually head that direction


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

chef2sail said:


> Rubs chef....dry rubs. Like you I rarely bastardize the taste of good quality meat.


Dry Rubs...DRY RUBS..Sure, on pork, chicken, fish...BUT BEEF!!!


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## SVAuspicious (Oct 31, 2006)

chef2sail said:


> Dave touche...its what is use in my dry rubs which i store


*grin* I'll admit to having a little jar of minced garlic in the fridge, although I usually start fresh. The stuff lasts forever.

For good beef, a little salt, a little pepper, maybe some chopped garlic ... is bacon a spice?


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

I think bacon is in a class of its own, can be eaten entirely on its own or in just about anything, and sometime in large quanities...LOL


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

I beleive a spice is always dried- a bark, seed, root etc. Bacon is not usually dried. 

Like Dave I like chopped garlic and Cracked Black pepper only. You can keep the damn salt. 

 Grin...and bare ( I know its spelled bear) it.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

Gotta' be able to clear the Susquehanna River RR Bridge, which averages about 48 to 50 feet. Some of the tall rigs won't make it. My Catalina clears with about 4 feet to spare, and the Morgan is 46' to the top of the mast, so it should make it OK.

The trip up the HDG channel can be a bit hairy, especially if you don't have a GPS Plotter that has a zoom feature. The channel is plenty deep, averaging 20 to 25 feet in most places, but when you're just a few yards out of the channel you can be hard aground. I helped a 30-footer off the bar on the west side of the channel between the sand islands and Havre de Grace last summer. The boat had been there for a week, tow boats couldn't extract him from the packed sand, and a commercial waterman tried to no avail. I had the guy use his dink and pull on the top of the mast with his halyard while I dragged him off by the bow with the Catalina. The Catalina has an Universal Atomic-4, 30-hp gasoline engine, but it was still a 20 minute struggle to get the guy off the bar.

Gary


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## SVAuspicious (Oct 31, 2006)

So should I stuff the Rock with bacon or wrap it around the outside?

Okay - a feeble attempt to get back on topic, but there is bacon in it!


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

SVAuspicious said:


> *grin* I'll admit to having a little jar of minced garlic in the fridge, although I usually start fresh. The stuff lasts forever.
> 
> For good beef, a little salt, a little pepper, maybe some chopped garlic ... is bacon a spice?


From my perspective, garlic (in any form), and bacon are basic food groups. 

Cheers,

Gary


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

travlineasy said:


> From my perspective, garlic (in any form), and bacon are basic food groups.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Gary


Just food for thought:


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

I havent eaten pork my whole life due to religious reasons. I doubt that not eating pork bacon will allow me to live one minute longer

Now back to the slimy rockfish poachers.....drag them behind a cruise ship


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

In the scheme of things, the best advice an old man can give you is to eat, drink and be merry! The consumption of fat and cholesterol are probably the least of anyone's worries when it comes to longevity. Sailing more also seems to be a healthy way of extending one's life. I'm fortunate in that I've outlived most of my doctors--even the younger ones. My current plans for checking out of this world consists of being shot in the back of the head by the jealous husband of a 19-year-old nymphomaniac while trying to climb from a second-floor window with my trousers down around my ankles and she's screaming "Don't Leave Me--Don't Leave Me!" 

Gotta' think positive, 

Gary


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## SVAuspicious (Oct 31, 2006)

chef2sail said:


> I havent eaten pork my whole life due to religious reasons. I doubt that not eating pork bacon will allow me to live one minute longer


Turkey bacon? Good stuff.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

I eat turkey bacon nearly every day of the week, along with my homemade McMuffin, which consists of a whole-wheat English muffin, egg beaters, a couple strips of turkey bacon and a slab of low fat cheese. Kinda like eating at Micky D's without all the bad stuff, and the price is better. 

Cheers,

Gary


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## RichH (Jul 10, 2000)

GAK !!!!! 
Gary, with so much bland tasting food, most folks would want to 'die early'.

The French eat zillions of pounds of 'bad things' per year ... but they wash it down with lots of RED wine .... epidemiologically they live longer (the ever renown "french paradox"). 
Food tastes ultimately better cooked up with *LARD*, heavy cream, 'obscene' sauces, etc. etc. ... just need a bottle of a noble RED to 'neutralize' it.

The real reason the Roman Legions withdrew from the British Isles was .... they couldnt find anything _good_ to eat !!!!!


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## jackdale (Dec 1, 2008)

RichH said:


> GAK !!!!!
> 
> The real reason the Roman Legions withdrew from the British Isles was .... they couldnt find anything _good_ to eat !!!!!


New International cookbook series:

German Cooking: How to marinate food
French Cooking: How to flambe food
English Cooking: How to ruin food

Actually I have had great pub food, and Clarridge's does deserve its reputation.


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## centaursailor (Nov 7, 2010)

RichH said:


> GAK !!!!!
> Gary, with so much bland tasting food, most folks would want to 'die early'.
> 
> The French eat zillions of pounds of 'bad things' per year ... but they wash it down with lots of RED wine .... epidemiologically they live longer (the ever renown "french paradox").
> ...


Jez, hope you are jokeing and not heading for an early bypass
Red batery acid maybe to disolve that lot.  
Garys breakfast sound good to me. 
Check out your history. Boadicea - Celtic Warrior Queen 
Them Romans sure met their match when the took on the might of the Celts, as did the other lot:laugher


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

At one stage of my lengthy life I loved potato chips fried in lard, real cream, real butter, but there was never a time when my stomach liked those things. Consequently, I had to switch to more of a bland diet, which pretty much agrees with my ability to digest what I eat. I hate the taste of red wine, but I'll drink the dickens out of green coconut margarettas, light beers, and for some strange reason ice water. 


Gary


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## JSL3 (Jun 6, 2007)

I know this thread has migrated away from the poachers. Nothing wrong with that but if you are interested, here's a Wash Post article directly related: 
A true fish story: Md. wildlife police work to stop poachers from stealing bass by the ton
Gary, BTW, Loved your posts on this thread!


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

This is just another glaring example of what has been going on for as long as I have been alive. I have to go outside and clear the snow from my driveway and sidewalk right now, but later today I'll post some photos that I took of catches in illegal nets.

Gary


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

JSL3 said:


> I know this thread has migrated away from the poachers. Nothing wrong with that but if you are interested, here's a Wash Post article directly related:
> A true fish story: Md. wildlife police work to stop poachers from stealing bass by the ton
> Gary, BTW, Loved your posts on this thread!


That's a great story. I was not aware of the part where the small community and paying off lookouts was making the NRP's job so much more difficult.

I think the way to reduce the poaching is to make it unprofitable. These guys can't afford to lose thousands of dollars in nets each month if they're not bringing fish to market. The NRP needs really long range, and airborne optical surveillance. It's the only way to let them watch the water without being seen.

Even if they can't always catch these guys, hopefully they can bankrupt their operations.


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## zedboy (Jul 14, 2010)

I missed that story about striped bass, but saw this one: Predator fish in oceans on alarming decline, experts say

Overfishing and fish stock collapse are not a problem unique to the Bay.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

One of the worst aspects of the illegal netting industry, and it is an industry, is that when the poachers think there's the slightest chance of being caught, they abandon the nets. Keep in mind that the $1,500 that poacher lost when DNR confiscated the net was chump change for this individual. It a slight increase in his cost of doing business.

The net he was referring to was made of monofilament, which is illegal in Maryland's portion of Chesapeake Bay. Several years ago, with the help of then DNR fisheries director W. Peter Jensen, this particular form of monofilament gill net was deemed legal because it was constructed from more than a single strand of monofilament. Jensen developed a new term--multifilament gill net.

The primary reason monofilament gill net was outlawed in Maryland was because of its environmental properties. It will last nearly 600 years according to Dupont, the inventor of monofilament. And, unlike soft nylon net, monofilament gill net remains extended when abandoned, while the soft nylon netting rolls up in a ball. So, for the next half-dozen centuries all that abandoned gill net will continue to catch and kill fish.

Monofilament gill net has other unique properties. The way a gill net works is the fish enters the net head first. When it meets too much resistance it attempts to back out. At this point the net slips under its gill plates, thereby ensnaring the fish until it is removed. In contrast, monofilament gill net works pretty much the same way, but with one exception. As the fish attempts to back out the monofilament net, which is much thinner, slides farther up the gill plate opening, thus slicing the gill rakers, causing the fish to quickly bleed to death. If the net is properly attended, which is prescribed by Maryland law, the dead fish are quickly retrieved, iced down, taken to the wholesaler and the overall quality of the meat is preserved. The negative side of this is that any fish that do not fit into the legal size category are dead and dying as well, thus those returned to the water are not counted as part of the commercial haul. They're just as dead as those that went into the fish boxes, but that doesn't seem to make a difference to fisheries managers, especially in Maryland and Virginia.

Attached are a few photos taken during sting operations I was privileged to cover as a reporter. In this particular instance, the targeted species was yellow perch, which at the time had been caught in 72 illegal fyke nets placed in the lower Gunpowder River during January when the season was still closed. The poacher was caught by federal game wardens from Aberdeen Proving Ground and was eventually convicted of violating the Lacey Act because he was shipping the fish to other states where they brought considerably more money.



















When I get time to dig up some of the monofilament gill net photos I'll post them as well.

Almost forgot to mention that if you examine the attached photos carefully you'll notice there are several other species of fish in the nets. These include: white perch, gizzard shad, catfish, largemouth bass, sunfish, crappie and small striped bass (rockfish), all of which were dead and dying at the time the poacher was apprehended. The poacher was pretty sure he was being watched, therefore the net sat in the water for several weeks before being retrieved. He essentially waited for the legal commercial season to open before going to the nets. What he failed to realize is he was under surveillance when the nets were put in place, which was during the closed season.

Gary


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

great post Gary, thanks!


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## smurphny (Feb 20, 2009)

Used to work digging clams in Great South Bay and the N. Shore of LI. I can tell you, there was hardly a morning when I didn't see poachers who had dug clams in polluted waters, coming IN from a very short night's work when the honest guys were going OUT for a long day's work. It would not have taken a very intelligent law enforcement effort to catch these guys but they seldom did. It all has to do with the WILL of those who are supposed to be in charge of enforcing the law.


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## Bene505 (Jul 31, 2008)

smurphny said:


> Used to work digging clams in Great South Bay and the N. Shore of LI. I can tell you, there was hardly a morning when I didn't see poachers who had dug clams in polluted waters, coming IN from a very short night's work when the honest guys were going OUT for a long day's work. It would not have taken a very intelligent law enforcement effort to catch these guys but they seldom did. It all has to do with the WILL of those who are supposed to be in charge of enforcing the law.


smurphny,

That is very disturbing. Even more disturbing when you see how they stop the law abiding people/boats during daylight hours. Can you say more about what's going on?

Regards,
Brad


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## smurphny (Feb 20, 2009)

Hey Brad, that was many years ago, back in the mid 80s. I've heard the clamming business has pretty much collapsed on LI since then. The point I was trying to make was that law enforcement is capable of catching poachers. Whether they have their hands tied by the court system, lack of adequate numbers, or politics are the questions to be asked. They sure seem to have plenty of money for "environmental police" to roam around in expensive, heavily armed boats harassing folks. It would seem that setting up surveillance in known illegal gillnet areas wouldn't be too difficult. It's pretty hard to hide the fact that you're setting that much gear without somebody noticing. The Chesapeake is the main hatchery for bass (along with the Hudson). 
Then again, with a good year-class, there will be an explosion of fish like there was a few years ago. There were so many bass in harbors on the East Coast they would keep you awake at night bumping into the boat. No kidding. 
Scientists/environmentalists like to think they know about fish populations, gleaned from their taxpayer financed data, but they are often completely wrong and in fact have proven they know very little about cycles of fish populations. The real problem in saving fish populations is limiting the size of offshore gear internationally but that seems to be politically impossible. Lots of hard working small fisherman in the US are being put out of work by ocean vacuuming factory ships. Swordfish and tuna are fast disappearing.


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## smurphny (Feb 20, 2009)

*Gillnet?*

Travelineasy, that looks to be the cod end of a trawl. Would like to know why the police let the gill net mentioned earlier sit for so long/kill so many fish. It should have been obvious no one was going to come haul it after just a few hours. The pirates are pretty smart. They should have just confiscated the net. One that long is no chum change for these guys. None of them is getting rich.


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## travlin-easy (Dec 24, 2010)

It does look, and essentially work like the cod end of a trawl, but there is a big difference in the two nets. First, fyke nets are anchored in place, either by stakes, or in some instances, concrete blocks. They're pretty much nothing more than a large-scale fish trap that gets jammed full of fish during tidal changes.










The gill nets, particularly those made of multiple strands of monofilament, are relatively inexpensive when compared to the older twisted nylon versions. And, when striped bass are hitting the market at more than $2 per pound on the round it doesn't take a lot of fish to cover the cost of a box or two of net. This time of year, many of the large, cow striped bass are lurking in the deep holes off Kent, Tilghman, Hooper and Smith islands, locations where pre-spawn females wait for water temperatures to climb toward 50 degrees, which in turn triggers the spring spawning run. Just 50 fish averaging 20-pounds each will bring in $2,000--not bad for a couple hours of illegal netting. And, some of the pre-spawn females will tip the scales at more than 40 pounds--fish that wholesalers really don't usually see, but instead they're filleted and back-doored through restaurants at $6 to $7 per pound. The fillets alone from a single, 40-pounder can be worth up to $150. Now, do this for about a month without getting caught and you can readily see why the practice of illegal netting has been going on since John Paul Jones joined the navy.

Cheers,

Gary


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