Question for those who sail at night or solo

[gjordan]

Tuna purse seiners, when actually fishing run zero lights. They sometimes flash a search light across the horizon to see the reflection of the fish, but they dont allow any light on board to ruin the vision of the man in the crows nest. Once they drop the net and start the haulback, they are lit up like central park. You can be in the middle of a pitch black ocean, and see a bright flash, and it is not aliens, it is a purse seiner. Dont worry about purse seiners, since their income depends on sharp eyesight. ____Grant.

[s/v Beth]

Are you sure Grant? Case in point- a fishing boat was bearind down on me, asked them (since it was foggy and they lit up the entire cloud equally) if they could turn their lights from me or down till I passed (only one min or so) They replied on VHF that it was law that they keep their lights on that bright. I see them on radar 60 miles out or so all the time- and they always have their lights on, so I can see them over the horizon.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by gjordan

Tuna purse seiners, when actually fishing run zero lights. [...]

The fishing fleets I see out there are talking on the radio in what sounds like Chinese. I assumed they were going after tuna, but not speaking the language I could be wrong. Big boats, lots of lights, definitely "off soundings".

As of a few years ago they weren't running AIS, but they should show up on radar (or visually).

Also "off soundings" is was the fishing fleet we encountered last year at night in the fog a hundred miles or so off Cape Flattery. The depth was 1000-1500 fathoms. Many of these boats did have AIS, as well as good radar returns. Most but not all had bright working lights.

[hpeer]

My comment off shore = off soundings was intended to note that fishing boats are more common on soundings! thus being 60 miles off shore, but on a bank is likely more crowded than 10 miles off shore, off soundings.

Agreed, you can find fishing vessels anywhere (sorta). But you won't find lobster boats, crabbers, drag gets, scallopers, etc, off soundings.

[bfloyd4445]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

The fishing fleets I see out there are talking on the radio in what sounds like Chinese. I assumed they were going after tuna, but not speaking the language I could be wrong. Big boats, lots of lights, definitely "off soundings".

As of a few years ago they weren't running AIS, but they should show up on radar (or visually).

Also "off soundings" is was the fishing fleet we encountered last year at night in the fog a hundred miles or so off Cape Flattery. The depth was 1000-1500 fathoms. Many of these boats did have AIS, as well as good radar returns. Most but not all had bright working lights.

sounds like Japanese poaching to me.

[MBLittle]

Originally Posted by bfloyd4445

sounds like Japanese poaching to me.

Something the Japanese are quite famous for and something which no government is willing to do anything about. Shameful.

[Paul Elliott]

I heard them talking on SSB, and the guys I heard weren't speaking Japanese. It sounded closer to Mandarin. I don't understand these languages, but I can tell some of them apart. Their position was near 40N x 140W.

Anyway, running into them unawares was not going to be a problem, as long as you scanned the horizon every half hour.

[bfloyd4445]

Originally Posted by MBLittle

Something the Japanese are quite famous for and something which no government is willing to do anything about. Shameful.

True, and they wonder why people sometimes do something about it themselves.
But in US waters I hear the coast guard will nail them to the wall if they catch them. The trick would be notifying the coast guard without using ssb or vhf, maybe via satellite phone?

[gjordan]

My experiance with a purse seiner was from the island of Soccoro off of the coast of Mexico. We were preparing to leave for the Marquesas, and the only other boat in the bay was the CITY OF LOS ANGELES, a very old tuna seiner. They invited us over for steak dinner and a night of fishing. We hadnt had a steak in a year so we said OF COURSE. Great crew and a neat old boat. As soon as we reached the fishing grounds, all lights went out and the mate in the crows nest controlled where the boat went. He would sometimes send a flash of light across the horizon, that lasted only about a second or less. There were no lights allowed that could hurt the eyesight of the man in the tower and that included running lights. Once they did a drop, the whole back deck was lit up. The City Of Los Angeles was like something out of the Smithsonion. It had an Atlas diesel that turned up 300 RPM at cruise and had air start and air reverse. The engineer oiled the exposed rockers with a brass oil can. It had a huge compass with the movable device(I cant remember the proper name) to take bearings, and no one on board could do celestial. They fished from Mexico to Alaska with dead reconning. Wooden ships and Iron men came to mind. _____Grant.