Free Republic

BEIJING - The Chinese fishermen detained by South Korean authorities are likely to return home on Saturday, after the charges against them were dropped a day before. Three Chinese fishermen were booked on a charge of "obstructing the duty of civil servants" after a collision between their trawler and a patrolling South Korean vessel in the Yellow Sea on Dec 18. However, South Korean coast guard officials decided to drop the charges on Friday, citing their "lack of direct involvement in the incident" and "active cooperation in the investigation", according to the Yonhap News Agency. The report said the coast...

Pradyun Chakraborty reclaimed his torn fishing net from the river. He and his wife counted the fish they caught—only 20 small Bagdha Ponnas, enough to get him 20 rupees (40 cents US). The net alone cost him 200 rupees ($5 US) to rent, half of which he still owed to his creditor. With fish escaping from his torn net and hardly any other work, Pradyun and his family were just barely surviving. It was the same for Jalal Balan. He bought his fishing net on credit for 1,000 rupees ($22 US) and was slowly paying it off. The majority of...

The California State Fish and Game Commission adopted sweeping closures of ocean waters off the Southern California coast, eliminating sportfishing and most other uses in these areas in a vote Dec. 15 in Santa Barbara. In adopting the regulations, mandated as part of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), three words come immediately to mind about the process: corrupt, unfunded and unnecessary. The process has been flawed from the beginning. First, there is massive conflict of interest that should disqualify two of the commissioners from voting: Commissioner Michael Sutton, whose employer stands to gain financially with the passage of massive...

The state of Alaska filed a lawsuit Tuesday in an effort to stop a federal agency's plan to protect endangered sea lions by restricting fishing in the western Aleutian Islands. According to Parnell's office, up to 900 people are employed by fleets in the areas where fishing will be restricted. It says the plan would cost fishery losses of tens of millions of dollars annually, and it believes the federal agency committed procedural violations that limited input from the public and experts.

Sarah Palin is under fire for clubbing a fish to death on her new reality TV show. The Tea Party darling and her daughter Bristol, 20, were shown on a halibut fishing trip filmed for her new programme, Sarah Palin's Alaska. After catching a fish, Sarah is seen beating it with a club and Bristol later holds its still-beating heart in her hand, a sight Sarah called 'weird'. A spokesperson for animal rights group In Defense Of Animals told TMZ: 'Sarah Palin’s complete lack of compassion as demonstrated in this snuff video is disgusting.' The group adds: 'Most disturbing is...

Angler's record fish is reel deal  By JOHN COLES    Big fish ... Gunther, 70, beside huge halibut A PENSIONER reeled back the years and defied his age when he landed this world record halibut weighing more than 34 STONE — enough for nearly 1,000 fillets. Super-fit Gunther Hansel, 70, spent more than two hours wrestling with the massive 8ft 2in flatfish after hooking it in an Icelandic fjord with a 30lb line and plastic lure. Five other men on the fishing boat then helped haul it on board with a rope around its tail. The monster fish weighed...

DETROIT — The U.S. Senate has approved legislation that sponsors say aims to fight the spread of Asian carp into the Great Lakes. Author Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., says the Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act adds the bighead carp species of Asian carp to a list of injurious species. That prohibits the species from being imported or shipped in the U.S. Levin and Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, introduced the bill in July 2009. The Senate passed it Wednesday. A companion House bill that Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., introduced is pending in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency denied on Thursday a petition by several environmental groups to ban lead in fishing tackle, two months after rejecting the groups' attempt to ban it in hunting ammunition. The EPA said that the petition did not demonstrate that a ban on lead in fishing tackle was necessary to protect against unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Twelve states have language in their constitutions guaranteeing a right to hunt and fish. The Arizona Legislature is proposing to do the same but with a twist that could marginalize the role of scientists in setting game policy, some conservation groups fear. Arizona’s Legislature has approved for public vote a constitutional amendment called Proposition 109; it will be on the ballot on Election Day 2 November. It includes language that would give the state Legislature central control over wildlife management, saying: EXCLUSIVE AUTHORITY TO ENACT LAWS TO REGULATE THE MANNER, METHODS OR SEASONS FOR HUNTING, FISHING AND HARVESTING WILDLIFE IS...

BATH, England - A British man has joined the small group of people who can claim to have caught a tigerfish, one of the world's most dangerous species, while fishing in Africa. Jeremy Wade of Bath, England, said he reeled in the tigerfish, a larger cousin to the piranha, while fishing in the River Congo and set it free after taking a picture, The Sun reported Thursday. "The teeth on it are incredibly sharp and are about the same length as a great white shark," Wade said. "It also has an extremely powerful bite and has been known to consume...

LADYSMITH, Wis.- It wasn't quite Captain Ahab's great white whale Moby Dick, but a Wisconsin angler reeled in a huge white fish -- a rare 51-inch albino muskie, officials say. Paul Parise caught the white muskie Oct. 6 in the lower Flambeau River in Rusk County, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Tuesday. "That is a pretty fantastic catch," Tim Simonson, co-chairman of the state Department of Natural Resources' muskie committee, said in a news release. "Albino muskie are pretty rare to begin with, and for one to survive to that size is pretty uncommon given they don't have the...

KEY WEST - A woman remains hospitalized after being bitten in the chest by a barracuda while kayaking in the Florida Keys. The Coast Guard says the 45-year-old woman and a male companion were kayaking Sunday evening near Big Pine Key when the fish jumped into the vessel and bit her....

SACRAMENTO, - The two-man team that took the top prize at a California college fishing championship said one member fished for 10 hours with a hook in his head. Robert Matsuura, 23, said he was fishing alongside Sacramento State University fishing teammate Peter Lee, 22, during the FLW College Fishing Western Regional Championship Saturday at Folsom Lake when Lee's treble hook lure -- comprised of three hooks each connected to three smaller hooks -- struck him in the back of the head during an attempted cast, The Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday. The pair said two of the three larger hooks...

With the autumn foliage at its peak and many fall hunting seasons in full swing I was surprised when my buddy Mike called to invite me along on a morning of fishing on a small nearby lake. "I was thinking about going bird hunting," I replied when he asked. "Well, when I got up I was planning on climbing into the tree stand for the day with my bow," Mike said with a laugh. "Then I went outside and saw all those leaves starting to pile up around the boat and figured it would be a great day to go...

Jessica Olmstead has no problem staring down wild animals. The 17-year-old Harper Creek High School senior has taken up one of nature's oldest, and possibly most dangerous sports, hunting. In the middle of August, Olmstead and her father, Tim, took a hunting trip up to Oba, Ontario, Canada, where the high school senior shot down a bear more than twice her size. "When I go out hunting, it's really exciting," Olmstead said. "Whenever I see a bear I just want to go at it. When you're hunting, your heart is racing, your blood is pumping, and you feel that adrenaline...

Check this cool video of a dog catching a shark and swmming to shore with it.Here is a link to the video; Dog Catches Shark & Brings it to Shore

Looking for a fishing tour in Oahu!

"EPA Now Accepting Public Comment on Petition to Ban Lead in Ammunition and Fishing Tackle" Thursday, August 26, 2010 By Susan Jones, Senior Editor SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – Environmental activists are pressing the Obama administration to ban the manufacture, processing and distribution lead shot, bullets, and fishing sinkers under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, but hunting and Second Amendment groups say the EPA lacks the authority to do so, for starters." SNIPPET: "The public comment period opened on Aug. 25 and ends on October 31. The EPA must decide whether to accept or reject the petition by November 1,...

ABOARD THE FISHING TRAWLER BULLDOG - At about noon yesterday, at least 20 fishing vessels began circling Vineyard Haven’s harbor, blasting their air horns and displaying banners to protest President Obama’s restrictions on commercial fishing that fishermen say threaten their livelihood. Two U.S. Coast Guard Zodiac boats intercepted the flotilla of protesters minutes out from the president’s vacation paradise, but were keeping their distance and have so far made no attempt to stop the fishermen either physically or by radio. “We’re hoping we let him know we’re in dire straits,” said Richard Canastra, co-owner of the Boston and New Bedford...

Leaders of the recreational and commercial fishing industry are planning a boat protest against federal policies Thursday outside the harbor of Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard, where President Obama and his family are summer vacationing. The protest is being organized after a bipartisan, bicameral coalition of federal lawmakers -- including the core of the President’s Congressional base on banking and health care issues -- have given up hope of working productively with Obama’s top appointee for oceans and fisheries, Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Boats from Gloucester and New Bedford, the hub ports of New...