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A Massachusetts fisherman pulled in an 881-pound tuna this week only to have the federal authorities take it away. It sounds like a libertarian twist on the classic novella by Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea, but for Carlos Rafael, the saga is completely true. Rafael and his crew were using nets to catch bottom-dwellers when they inadvertently snagged the giant tuna. However, federal fishery enforcement agents took control of the behemoth when the boat returned to port. The reason for the seizure was procedural: While Rafael had the appropriate permits, fishermen are only allowed to catch tuna...

TOKYO, - The first auction of the year at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market saw a 754-pound blue fin tuna sell for nearly $400,000. The blue fin tuna, a species highly regarded for sushi making, was purchased Tuesday by a joint bid from a Tokyo restaurant and a Hong Kong sushi chain, the BBC reported Wednesday. The fish, which was caught off the Japanese island of Hokkaido, was one of 500 to be sold in the fish market's first auction of the year Tuesday. Tsukiji market traders said the price of tuna has been rising due to increased Chinese demand for...

There was spirited celebration on the San Diego waterfront Monday morning after the vessel Vagabond returned from a long-range fishing trip into Mexican waters and offloaded the heaviest yellowfin tuna ever caught by an angler. The behemoth, landed by Mike Livingston of Sunland, Calif., weighed 405.2 pounds; it's girth was 61 inches and it measured nearly 86 inches from nose to tail. The catch, made on 100-pound-test line after nearly a three-hour fight, will be submitted to the International Game Fish Assn. for approval as an all-tackle world record. Capt. Mike Lackey said IGFA rules were followed so the catch...

A monster tuna caught off Japan has turned heads at a Tokyo fish market, where the 445 kilogram (981 pound) bluefin -- the biggest caught here since 1986 -- sold for 3.2 million yen (36,700 dollars). Decades of overfishing have seen global tuna stocks crash, pushing some Western nations to call for a trade ban on endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna. (AFP/Jiji Press)

Rejection Thursday of a bluefin tuna ban at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) drew sighs of relief from sushi chefs and fishermen across Japan. Japan consumes about three-quarters of the globe's bluefin tuna.

TOKYO – Japan will not comply if a ban is imposed on international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, prized by Japanese for sushi, a senior official said after the United States threw its support behind the move ahead of a crucial vote. [snip]

I like to make a big batch of this and have it for lunch during the week, or as a snack with crackers.

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Democrats tasteless at inauguration Letter to the Editor Posted: 01/31/2009 12:00:00 AM PST How utterly tasteless for Democrats to boo President Bush at the inauguration. The entire world leaned backwards to make this day one of triumphs for them. Have Republicans ever done this?The least Democrats could have done was to remain silent, as those who wished to cheer President Bush for seven years with no terrorist attacks upon us did so. They showed no respect for the Bush family either.Obama has promised transparency. Let's start with Nancy Pelosi, one of Bush's most caustic critics.Her district includes San Francisco. Star Kist...

Two sushi bar owners fork over $104,700 for a 282-pound bluefin tuna at a Tokyo auction. That breaks down to $370 per pound, many times higher than the average of $25 per pound. Why so pricey? "It was the best tuna of the day, but the price shot up because of the shortage of domestic bluefin," which is attributed to bad weather, an official says.

The tuna industry says climate change is bringing benefits. The chief executive of the Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Association, Brian Jeffriess, says Port Lincoln crews in South Australia are reporting an excellent quality and size catch. He says it can be partly attributed to the effects of climate change on the waters of the Great Australian Bight. "There's no doubt climate change will bring benefits to the Great Australian Bight ecology in the sense that there's more upwellings therefore more small pelagics as we call them - sardines, mackerel, red bait, other fish - and that will bring tuna so...

Russia calls for sturgeon fishing ban in CaspianRussia on Thursday proposed that Caspian Sea states impose a five-year ban on fishing for sturgeon, prized for its caviar eggs, to save stocks from collapse, a spokesman for the fisheries agency said. "We are ready to announce a moratorium," said spokesman Alexander Savelyev, adding that Russia would formally propose the ban to the other four Caspian Sea states of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan soon. "This is because the sturgeon is about to disappear," said Savelyev, adding that Russia was not able to fish its annual quota of 50 tonnes of sturgeon...

DON'T GO THERE: BRIT PAPER STARTS 'UGLIEST MONTH' Sun Nov 25 2007 20:45:12 ET The TIMES of London starts 'The Ugliest Month' with a full page photo takeout on Hillary Clinton and her beautiful aide. "Hillary Clinton has been accused of having an affair with Huma Abedin," reads the caption. MORE The splash stunned British readers and angered campaign insiders. "This does not even qualify as tabloid trash... it's ridiculous and reckless," a Hillary confidante explained over the weekend. The paper made no claims to knowing the truth of the relationship between Hillary and Huma, in its story headlined: "Snarls,...

3rd Platoon gobbles up a gift from home RAWAH, Iraq — One day last month in San Diego, a good-hearted woman whose brother-in-law is a Marine in Iraq had an idea to support the troops downrange. Her brother-in-law, 1st Lt. Josef H. Wiese, 24, of Steilacoom, Wash., is a platoon commander whose Marines man a patrol base in Rawah, a debris-strewn city in western Anbar province. Now, what would be a really helpful thing to send to Joe and all those tireless young Marines in the searing Mesopotamian heat? Tuna. Yes, that would be the thing. Great for snacks, it...

Environmentalists called Monday for a radical overhaul of fishing practices to prevent a worldwide collapse in tuna stocks as international conservation bodies opened their first joint meeting on the species. The five-day meeting in the western Japanese city of Kobe will look at ways to share information among regions to monitor tuna numbers and control illegal fishing vessels, officials said. Environmentalists called on participants to come up with substantive measures to protect the fish, which are highly prized in Japan. Greenpeace said it was "high time" for governments to recognize the seriousness of the tuna issue. Governments "must acknowledge that...

While I was quite amused by Barney Frank's takedown of Patrick McHenry on the House floor, I was left wondering what the hell it was all about. McHenry, the designated Republican attack dog and the heir apparent to Gingrich and DeLay, was attempting to ask a question about whether American Samoa was exempted from the stem cell research bill that passed the House yesterday. McHenry is apparently completely ignorant of parliamentary procedure, or perhaps he just wanted to get the words "American Samoa" on C-SPAN. Because there's a growing shitstorm over a similar "exemption" for American Samoa in the recently...

Flamboyant Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens tried to kill himself by overdosing on pain medication, even putting two more pills into his mouth after a friend intervened, according to a police report obtained Wednesday. Owens left the hospital late Wednesday morning, giving reporters a "thumbs up" but making no comment as he was driven away in an SUV. Publicist Kim Etheredge said in various interviews Wednesday with Dallas-area media that the police have gotten the story wrong. She said she was with Owens, who was having trouble because he'd

Three Mexican fishermen who disappeared in the Pacific Ocean nine months ago have been rescued nearly 8,000 kilometres from their home, saying they survived by eating seagulls, drinking rainwater and reading the Bible. A Taiwanese tuna boat scooped the men out of the water about halfway between Hawaii and Australia on Aug. 9. They had drifted all the way from San Blas, a fishing village about 160 kilometres north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where they were last seen in late October or early November, 2005. Fishermen in San Blas, a hamlet of about 8,000 people, are celebrating the men's astonishing...

Search for sushi draining Mediterranean's red tuna stocks by Marie-Noelle Valles Mon May 29, 6:16 PM ET Too much demand for sushi from Japan may finish off stocks of red tuna running dangerously low in the Mediterranean owing to overfishing, say environmentalists from Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). "Japan absorbs between 90 and 95 percent of catches of red tuna and the Mediterranean version is especially appreciated," explains Jose Luis Garcia, head of the WWF oceans section. The price of a prize red tuna can top 50,000 euros (60,000 dollars) on the Japanese market. "In opening new markets,...

MADRID (AFP) - Too much demand for sushi from Japan may finish off stocks of red tuna running dangerously low in the Mediterranean owing to overfishing, say environmentalists from Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). "Japan absorbs between 90 and 95 percent of catches of red tuna and the Mediterranean version is especially appreciated," explains Jose Luis Garcia, head of the WWF oceans section. The price of a prize red tuna can top 50,000 euros (60,000 dollars) on the Japanese market. "In opening new markets, exploitation (of stocks) has been pushed even further," Garcia said, alluding to the growing...