New Zealand Fishermen Catch Rare (990 lb) Squid

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2007/feb/22/022205192.html

A fishing crew has caught a colossal squid that could weigh a half-ton and prove to be the biggest specimen ever landed, a fisheries official said Thursday.

The squid, weighing an estimated 990 lbs and about 39 feet long, took two hours to land in Antarctic waters, New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said.

The fishermen were catching Patagonian toothfish, sold under the name Chilean sea bass, south of New Zealand "and the squid was eating a hooked toothfish when it was hauled from the deep," Anderton said.

The fishing crew and a fisheries official on board their ship estimated the length and weight of the squid: Detailed, official measurements have not been made. The date when the colossus was caught also was not disclosed.

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[cornflake_31]

1. Ok.......

I'm never going swimming again.

[saigon68]

4. My God it's Dick Cheney

With his tentacles in all the $$$$$$$

[maxsolomon]

2. why bother?

who's going to eat that squid? its a trophy. more pointless death.

[kestrel91316]

3. So they were fishing for a species that is HIGHLY ENDANGERED

and being fished out of existence, and then they caught (and presumably killed) another species that is rarely seen, or at least a prime example of it, so they could take pictures and then throw it back (nobody eats 990 lb squid, to they?).

Makes pefect sense to me. If you're looking to contribute to ecosystem collapse that it..............

[jpak]

5. I was surprised to see commercial fishing in Antarctic waters

I was under the mis-impression that it was banned under the Antarctic Treaty...

[Dead_Parrot]

6. Sadly not...

...The southern ocean is sub-divided into sections (=fisheries), which are (in theory) controlled by CCAMLR as to what can be caught where - but there's enough illegal fishing to make it pretty worthless.

http://www.ccamlr.org/pu/e/gen-intro.htm , if you want to go digging...

[jpak]

7. We encountered several NZ toothfish boats South of 60 a few years back

We became their de facto icebreaker for several days and saved them a shiteload of fuel (and $$$).

Until then, I wasn't aware there was commercial fishing that far south.

(and the size of that squid answers the question about that large fast-moving underwater object I saw one day in a lead)...

:scared:

[Dead_Parrot]

8. Considering it's supposed to be one of the world's last wildernesses

the southern ocean seems to be frighteningly busy. We really need some sort of oversight on what's going on down there...

Oh well. A few more years and the problem will go away. :(

Incidentally, I misread you last line as:

that large fast-moving underwater object I saw one day in the head

Yikes!

[jpak]

10. Spsppppsssshhh!!11111

they only move fast when the cook is drunk...or when you hit the "delete" buttoon...

:rofl:

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. No, they're taking it to a museum

"There was quite a lot of excitement onboard ... the decision was taken that the chances of survival were not good, and in the interests of science it should be taken on board," Dolan said.

Sanford's deepwater division manager Greg Johansson said the squid was barely alive when it was pulled aboard.

"It was deemed that is was more valuable to science," Johansson said.

The squid was taken below deck and stored in a 1200 litre capacity bin, before it was frozen.

It has since been transferred to one of the company's cool rooms in Timaru, on New Zealand's South Island.

It will ultimately end up at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington, where it will be preserved for scientific study.

http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=358479

[AX10]

9. How did it get so large?

[jpak]

11. They are Toothfish (aka Antarctic Cod) predators

Toothfish are big nasty predators in their own right (up to 2 meters long and weighing up to 135 kg).

They have to be bigger badder than their prey...

[Nihil]

13. By not being caught until now ...?

Maybe it was a rhetorical question but the answer is still "by continuing to
eat without being caught and killed". This is why the average catch size is
diminishing in every fishery across the globe. Sad isn't it?