I guess those rig chefs follow the rules.
Where I was if the cook wouldn’t cook it, the guy who caught it would. Always welcome for dinner, no matter what form it was in.
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So who paid for the license? Rig? Company? Individuals? How does one even get a license for the EEZ?
In the gulf in my experience yes. Outside the gulf they’d usually cook it.
The oil company usually obtained the license since it’s their permit.
The blackfin tuna off Key West never had a chance to make it to the freezer, (As you know, they aren’t very big). Wasabi and soy always on board as were bamboo rollers and sushi rice. The Mahi made it home on occasion, as did more so the Wahoo. Don’t recall any large tuna being caught, not to say they didn’t bite, but we lost a few large fish. Fun.Fun,Fun and great morale booster.
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There are lots of fishing opportunities on any ship or rig. Underway, at anchor, at the dock. Doesn’t hurt to bring some basics, or order them when the need is identified. One of my favorites is squid for lunch so don’t forget to keep a squid jig handy.
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I’ve caught many tuna from the decks of drillships but it’s always a battle with management and some captains don’t want to fight for it. Management gets involved because someone gets a bug up their a$$ thinking the monofilament will tangling up the prop.
But management never seemed to care about the dozen of fishermen that always came out to us on the weekends because we were constantly chumming our food waste.
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Management never gave us a headache. Nor bought a license for us. More than a few enjoyed a "package " every now and then. Never had a problem with management side of it, or Game wardens at sea… Granted a while back, never had anyone check a tug at the dock/pier. Only time I ever got a ticket/warning was on my private boat because my bypass catch ring on my shrimp net was too small or in the wrong location. They did wait till you got to the dock. Had Virginia numbers on the boat and shrimping in Carolina. Never kept underiszed fish or over the limit on same. All permitted proper, but a sitting duck/target for those local cats. Whether fishing , shrimping, or crabbing.
The all encompassing fear of injury. As told to me by a Harvey Gulf captain. They use to allow fishing on their boats until someone hurt himself and that was the end of it company wide.
On an AHTS drifting on standby with searchlights on the water and gaffing squid with barbless Japanese lures as used on the squid boats.
Our talented cook turned out salt and pepper squid and some really good Asian and Mediterranean meals.
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Hi K.2 and every one : What kind of fishing ? Leasure or job ?
Leasure as far i know it is not allowed anymore.
Job ? The term of fishing on drill ships means to pick up something lost in the well, and of course need years of experience on drilling. We also fish in wells with Slickline, coiled tubing, pulling etc.
My advise is, make a good money on rigs and offer you a good fishing charter.
I am talking about worlwide, companies, they do not allow that, cause hooks lost against divers, also in Africa against a kind of black market. Except, the evening if your accomodation is on a supply.
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Here’s a story that involves fishing off a boat but doing something unusual after catching them.
I was running live-aboard dive boats out of Government Cut in Miami. On the way to the dive sites in the Bahamas we would snag a couple of barracudas in the 3 foot range and put them in the freezer.
One of the dive sites was guaranteed to have sharks in the vicinity. At a depth of about 50 feet there was a large circular depression. We had a cement block in the middle of the depression with a pulley attached to it and a line from a mooring buoy looping through the pulley and back to the buoy.
After briefing them, we’d guide our 20 or so divers down and have them sit still in a circle around the depression. Meanwhile, on the boat, a couple of deckhands would skewer the cudas on a 6 foot long stainless steel rod threaded at both ends and then screw in rings at the ends.
They would load the rod with the skewered cudas in a skiff, tie off to the mooring buoy, attach the rod to the line and lower it until it sat vertically over the the block on the bottom. It wouldn’t take long for the show to start.
A half a dozen or more sharks would come swooping in and attack the chumsicle. You could hear their teeth clicking on the stainless rod as they attacked the barracuda in a frenzy. When the free lunch was gone, and the sharks wandered off we got the divers back up. It was the highlight of the week for them and back on the boat they were like a bunch of kids all excited about the experience.
PS Fishing tip: Barracuda are hard to kill with a club when they are flopping around on the deck, and by the time you succeed there’s blood everywhere. Splashing a generous amount of vodka in their face knocks them out.
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Well, that sucks. What fish are left deserve to be caught and enjoyed by the mariners, screw the office jockeys that can’t/won’t understand the satisfaction of grabbing a fresh seafood meal. Never had a problem with my crowd. To the one’s that have a problem, go to Red Lobster. Fresh off the boat… NOT.
On the Fredericklsburg we allowed surface fishing from the stern, but no bottom fishing with line. The Campboss allowed the Indonesian crew to put fish in the fish freezer to take home.
The Mechanic reported that a lot of hand tools disappeared from his workshop so we stared with baggage search on crew change. Nothing found for a while, but plenty frozen fish.
The permit to freeze and take home fish was stopped when we got report back from the airport at Matak that they had detected tools in the frozen fish when they did a baggage scan.
Sorry to hear that Bug, that really sucks. Thankfully, we didn’t have that problem. Most of the vessels I worked on had a safe onboard, never had the need to use it. Must have been some decent size fish to put tools inside, haven’t heard that before.
Nothing to be sorry about, at least now, over 40 years later (1979).
The fish they caught was mostly Dorado (Mahi-Mahi to you).
PS> Indonesians want their fish whole, not fillet.
We also had a fish trap that the welder made from 4 bunk bottoms and chicken mesh. It was too heavy for hand pulling.
An Aussie Crane Operator, with help from the Roustabouts, set and pulled the trap, using a crane.(And still well away from the BOP)
Caught some nice big snappers and Garoupas, but those went to the Galley for consumption on board-
We also got the odd Langust, but that was rare.
Did you mean Rare?
Yes of course I did. (Now corrected)
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Spill czech dues knot ketch awl thinks.
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We sliced and diced the moment they were caught. If we got the rare tuna, one of the deckies and I rolled them up. Wasabi and soy part of our pantry. I also made carrot birthday cakes for my pals, As one poster on here said, it’s the little things that make a difference. The fish were bagged and tagged and no tools inside them. I do miss that part of sailing. Had the luxury of a hand picked crew, I understand, some are/weren’t so lucky.
Please see PM.