First Fishing Hole In The Southern Ocean

Sunday-Monday, 3-4 December 2023
Day 11-12 of 110ish

Tom did it tough for three mornings.

Fortunately for us, the quota closed and we were back steaming closer to Antarctica. This meant gentlemen’s hours again. Yay!

Luck and Learning

As luck would have it, I have not adapted to my new hours AT ALL…so it won’t be a major to ditch the early mornings and go back to being normal again. Well, as normal as I can be!

Plus, I was starting to feel confident with brekkie so I have decided to put on my big girl britches and do brekkie myself from here on out…well, once we start fishing again.

Birds of a Feather

It was an interesting feeling…fishing. You’d hardly know it was happening. But the birds knew. There were all kinds of petrels and albatross following the boat’s every move. And we had to put out these funny lines that are designed to keep the birds away from the bait on the fishing line. In fact, there are two deckhands whose duty is called ‘Bird Scare’ and they control these lines. Brrr!

Not only do we want to not loose bait, we don’t want to catch any birds either! Especially because there’s a bird flu outbreak in the Antarctic and that would be a potential showstopper if we had a bird flu case on the boat. Thankfully, Billy the Observer has a Tyvek hazmat suit and assorted gear just in case a bird lands on the boat that requires handling. In our sick way, we think it would be hilarious to watch 😝

Moon Pool

So my learning began as to how this whole operation works…especially with a moon pool. The moon pool is basically a very large hole in the bottom of the boat that you pull the hooks up from the depths through. It’s super clever. It’s a bit like an inner tube but with a big steel boat instead of a rubber tube. 

Our Prey

And the tooth fish are apparently quite tasty and gigantic though not as easy on the eye. I still feel sorry for the buggers having been pulled from 2 kilometres deep. They are pretty buggered by the time they get to the moon pool and don’t put up any fight at all. These fish are ranging around the 30kg mark, green weight…which is the weight of the fish as it comes out of the ocean. Trunk weight is what the crew get paid on. Secondarily, they also sell the cheeks and collars. 

I learn more every single day!