Where have all the fish gone? - Ask the Longliners

Longliners in Rabaul SW

Turtle caught by longliner hook © SW

On Blackwattle we sailed the Pacific Ocean this year staying in loose contact with around 50 other transiting yachts. In sundowners the conversation recurred again and again – away from the coastlines we all caught few, if any fish, and saw no wildlife – no turtles, no dolphins, no albatross. This was so unlike the other two oceans, the Atlantic and the Indian, where wildlife abounded.

The suspected culprits are the longliners, who fish with multiple lines sometimes more than two kilometres long and over 2500 hooks which catch everything indiscriminately, even the albatross who dive on caught fish. Read about whom sailors should call if they sight these ships so they can be tracked in the effort to have the process banned internationally.

If you must sink your yacht, make sure you do it next to a luxury cruiser! Read the tragicomedy story of some sailors who did just that, and finished their sail in luxury they would never have dreamed.

With the warming of the Earth the North West Passage is now relatively free of ice and open for sailing. Read this week's analysis of this good news/bad news issue.

On a practical note, are you prepared for a failing shroud which could bring your mast down? A compact emergency shroud kit is a great solution

Lots of other stories – the long saga of retrieving S/V Legacy is finally over, with the superyacht finally freed from her hurricane induced grounding nearly three years ago; Russian adventure sailor Fedor Konyukhov talks about the ice fields that surround him; Internet at sea is getting better – and cheaper – all the time; and some innovative companies have won awards in Monaco for their Green solutions.

As for Blackwattle, she has had her final circumnavigation homecoming in this issue, and hasn't decided where to go next...

Read on, enjoy, and..

Sail safe!