...and so indeed it was 4.30a.m. on a Wednesday morning. Nothing strange about that, however the fact that I was up and dressed and standing outside waiting for a coach to take me fishing was very strange. Also the fact that I was feeling a little dusty after the previous nights frivolities didn't help. I'm glad we were staying with my fish supplier as he kind of became the human alarm for the trip and I doubt that I would've been up without him. Good on ya Wayne. Anyway it was a short trip to the harbour were the boat was waiting to take us Tuna Fishing.
I say fishing but what we were going to see was tuna harvesting. The fish are kept in pen's out at sea and harvested as needed. The trip took about an hour to get there and we spent most of the time below deck drinking coffee and eating toast. As we went out the crew got ready the production area and made sure everything was super clean.
It was still dark when we left harbour but as we neared the pens the sun began to rise on a beautiful day off the Eyre Peninsula. The hang over had gone and I was really looking forward to the harvesting. We'd all been talking about getting in with the fish the night before but now that we were out in the middle of the ocean I'm not sure that it was such a good idea. As chance would have it though it was only going to be a small harvest for our benefit so only two people would be able to get in. Marty and Shannon put there hand up first so that was that.
As we got closer the divers we're already there and had begun to set up the nets, There were three divers and it didn't take them long to get the nets in place. Our boat pulled alongside the penn and tied up.
Once the nets were set and they had the correct amount of tuna inside they begin to close the net towards the boat and herd the tuna towards the surface. The boat lowers a kind of conveyor belt into the water and the divers then get in the water and get ready to chase and catch the tuna. As this is all going on the crew on the ship stand ready for the first tuna to make its way up the conveyor belt to the deck....
I say fishing but what we were going to see was tuna harvesting. The fish are kept in pen's out at sea and harvested as needed. The trip took about an hour to get there and we spent most of the time below deck drinking coffee and eating toast. As we went out the crew got ready the production area and made sure everything was super clean.
It was still dark when we left harbour but as we neared the pens the sun began to rise on a beautiful day off the Eyre Peninsula. The hang over had gone and I was really looking forward to the harvesting. We'd all been talking about getting in with the fish the night before but now that we were out in the middle of the ocean I'm not sure that it was such a good idea. As chance would have it though it was only going to be a small harvest for our benefit so only two people would be able to get in. Marty and Shannon put there hand up first so that was that.
As we got closer the divers we're already there and had begun to set up the nets, There were three divers and it didn't take them long to get the nets in place. Our boat pulled alongside the penn and tied up.
Once the nets were set and they had the correct amount of tuna inside they begin to close the net towards the boat and herd the tuna towards the surface. The boat lowers a kind of conveyor belt into the water and the divers then get in the water and get ready to chase and catch the tuna. As this is all going on the crew on the ship stand ready for the first tuna to make its way up the conveyor belt to the deck....
No comments:
Post a Comment