FAD lost at sea
Posted by Andrew via Email at 10:40 PM, August 24, 2004
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| (C) Greenpeace |
Early this morning we came across a Fish Aggregating Device (FAD),
without any markers or radio beacons. Judging from the barnacles, Roger
guesses it has been floating around for about three months. Not a very
glamorous thing to look at. The main float appeared to be a rusty old
boiler or some such, made watertight. A bundle of sticks was tied to the
side to keep it floating upright, tow ring on top.
Larger photo
Underneath it had two ropes at one end, each going down about 80 feet
(24m), and a cable at the other going down about 100 feet (30m). Pieces of
barnacle-encrusted wood were tied to the ropes. It's just the sort of thing
that fish love, but there weren't as many as you might expect.
Derek (captain) did see tuna swimming around it when we first passed by,
but by the time we got our ship turned around, woke the dive team, got our
boat launched and divers in the water - the tuna had taken off.
-- Andrew
