Can you Live off the Bounty of the Sea?

[Ofer]

or you can follow cruise liner routes and pickup all kinds of FRESH fruits and vegetables.

this is what i picked up on the way from Alaska to Washington state.

[Agape39]

Originally Posted by Ofer

or you can follow cruise liner routes and pickup all kinds of FRESH fruits and vegetables.

this is what i picked up on the way from Alaska to Washington state.

Isn't that like dumpster diving!

[atoll]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

agh the modern western fascination with refrigeration. To suggest that fresh meat spoils in a couple of hours is not true, even in hot climates. ( I would exempt minced beef from this , I never allow mince unrefrigerated for more then an hour or two, in fact I dont like the product at all).

I do find horse meat and venison can tolerate less immediate refrigeration, there are some that like it close to rotten

dave

when buying in bulk our average spend was between $500-1000 or 80-120 kilos.......so fairly valuable,not somthing you take chances with.

it is true that meat freshly butchered and never refigerated will not spoil as easily,our mo for african markets was to get up before dawn,fight off the big mommas for the fillets and other choice cuts before the axe man got in there and really made a mess of things!,then get it back asap.

generally people will be buying from small or larger supermarkets where the meat is allready chilled,this is where you have to be careful,especially if your outside temps are in the mid 30'c as it is the temp change that promotes the growth of bacteria.

too often before having any form of refidgeration in the caribe after a day trip to town for supplies i would find by dinner time meat had spoiled..imho

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by sarkastic

I have not found a lot of info on selling your catch. Is this possible without a commercial license in the states?

It's not legal in any of the states that I'm aware of (don't know if there are federal laws against it). Nonetheless, people do it.

Sort of like the discussions about going to Cuba, or working in foreign countries, I guess. Odds of getting caught are low, but you won't like the result if you happen to be the one who does get caught.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by sarkastic

I have not found a lot of info on selling your catch. Is this possible without a commercial license in the states? I don't really want to be in one place all the time and can not see getting a license for each state before going fishing. Local waters have good fishing but you almost need to be a local to know the good fishing spots. I think being a little more off shore and catching Dolphin and the various Tuna's would be rather profitable for someone with no expenses or bills. I am not a good researcher or I would have already found my answer and I will continue to research the internet until I am on the water and can ask my questions first hand. Until then, does anyone sell what they catch?

I was the Manager of The Oregon Inlet Fising center back in the mid 80s and when the offshore fishing fleet came in there was always folks who didnt want the catch and would give it to me or others that worked there and we would in turn keep a portion and sell the rest to the fish houses along the causeway over to Manteo NC....When living on the beach in Jamaica a few days a week fisherman would show up and pull a shore net in ...They would stand around with clubs and sticks and crush the Lobster ,crabs,and anything else that had "the skeleton on the outside... when asked why they said that" god had said that any thing with an exoskeleton(sic) was not to be eaten"!I remember dragging a Heafty garbage bag full of such creatures to my camp...after a week or two I was over it and didnt ever want to see another lobster,crab or shrimp..Then as the years went by the locals got over there(RastafarI) issues when they realized thru free enterprise and good marketing skills(holding up 5 lobsters on the roadside) they could sell these "forbidden fruits" to the hedonistic tourist and make money...I think one could live off of the ocean until Gout sets in ,lol...DVC

[Irish rambler]

I think you will find it's illegal to catch Dolphins quite apart from the ethics.
As one of the posters has already said you will have vitamin deficiency and get scurvy quite apart from quickly getting tired of fish.

[homeless]

I think sarkastic was probably referring to Dolphin Fish (Mahi Mahi) rather than Dolphins (small whales). It is legal to catch both Dohphin Fish and Dolphins in some countries, but I suspect not all.

Some seaweeds contain multiple vitamins, including C, so a creative cook may be able to avoid both scurvy and boredom.

[Jassen]

Wow, I can't believe the wealth of information shared in this thread. Thanks to everybody that has pitched in.

The general consensus seems to be that a "Waterworld" existence is out of the question, but if one is eternally coastal cruising or island hopping, and heading onto land occasionally, there is no need to ever stop sailing.

On the issue of having money for repairs, parts, food, etc... It would be downright foolish in my opinion to set out on such a long-term adventure without a fair amount of savings or a regular income (such as a pension or passive business income). It does make sense to me, as others have already pointed out, that by foraging as much as possible, fishing where safe, catching rainwater, bartering for parts and repairs and food as much as possible, etc... The fiscal component drops like a rock.

As I type this from my windowless office, and compare it to my day of sailing on the Columbia River yesterday, I pull no punches when I say I'd rather be on the boat chipping paint (which I did a lot of in the Navy, so I'm familiar with the task).

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Irish rambler

I think you will find it's illegal to catch Dolphins quite apart from the ethics.
As one of the posters has already said you will have vitamin deficiency and get scurvy quite apart from quickly getting tired of fish.

I ate Dolphon fish for years until the restaurantours became tired of explaining to the patrons that it was not "Flipper". It as a palagiac fish that lives in many tropical seas so there are different names for it. They decided to use the Polynesian name, Mahi Mahi. Its still fun to order Dolphin and watch the eyes.

[bobconnie]

Again, We eat a lot of fish, both fresh and canned, and frozen. BUT after a while, even if ya like fish as much as we do, Ya start haveing the beef shakes ! We don't carry as much meat as would like, do to the size of our freezer! it will only handle so much till its to full ! We mostly eat beef and pork,and of course chicken, till we have room for fish in the freezer! then we start eating and canning fish till the freezer is full again!! but when ya eat fish 4 or 5 times a week ya still get a little tired of it !! The big thing is fresh veggies, if ya shop when ya stop and refresh your stores of veggies ya can eat with the best of em off shore ! we do! In fact we probly eat better at sea then we do ashore!! I do know the folks we have to dinner are always ready to come back for more !! So I guess ya could stay out for longer them we do before ya stop! But we still like to see some folks and some sites when we sail !! Just our 2 cents

[SunnySky]

Alot of great advice so far, and having used a lot of epoxy and fiberglass among other materials fixing up my boat over the last year I would be inclined to totally agree that there is always going to be the need to buy/barter/trade/scavenge/salvage/etc materials for the repair an maintenance of a boat.

Regarding subsistence food and water at sea, I plan to do just that from a caloric standpoint but am still in the very initial stages of pursuing that dream. Going to various ports because I want to socially and culturally, but not because I need to, along with simply wanting to live a life that is as truly sustainable as possible are my personal reasons as to why? I personally am pursuing this goal.

I believe the missing link to quality subsistence at sea is ecologically designed nutrient and water recycling on "reasonable size sailboat" (intentionally not giving a size range, but too big = the costs and maintenance of ship systems will soar, too small = not enough onboard space/weight capacity for all the tools and supplies you'll need to maintain boat and it's crew). I am picturing a mix of lightweight soil-based and simple "low maintenance" hydroponic food systems onboard (multihulls offering a huge spacial advantage in this regard, while also realizing their sailing performance is also much more affected by weights involved) and the use of a urine diverting composting toilet and greywater treatment system that sustainably provides the nutrient and water supply for growing your foods. Please note, in order to be safe and sustainable this system needs to have an exceptional attention to every detail of the process. Growing non-root crops on properly composted "humanure" or making use of a zero-discharge greywater hydroponic system has tremendous potential. There are undoubtedly many challenges to do so while sailing, and I haven't done it on my boat yet (previously living off-grid on land was much easier in many ways and I still ate out/socialized...) so I look forward to updating everybody on various details eventually, and welcome all nay-sayers to motivate me more by saying it can't be done ;-)

[JanetGroene]

Sounds good. My view is that the biggest challenge is to have an available fresh water supply with backup plans for creating, catching, purifying where necessary, storing and then delivering it to your use in a waste-free manner. Tanks can leak or go foul. Birds can contaminate deck catchments. Pumps fail. So do watermakers and end-use filters. Much of my boating has been in the out islands of the Bahamas, where fresh water is a very precious commodity, so I take a belt-and-suspenders approach.

[nagrom snoyl]

born to fish forced to work, fishing is life the rest just details and let the ocean be my atm

[Capt Phil]

Have the best of both worlds... become a commercial fisherman. A hard but not a bad life... money not as good as it was but still an independent way to live. Worked as one for close to 10 years and only reason I left was because of a lady. Bad choice! Should have stayed fishin'! Phil

[PlumBob]

104 posts, and unless I've missed it, nobody's talked about eating -

Seagull. Chicken of the sea - LOL

Land locked preppers often talk about the wonderful bounty of pigeon - (that tastes a lot like chicken....)

Has anyone / does anyone eat Gull, or other sea birds? If so, how do you catch them?