Spiel

Head Creeps

....That's twice today.

Diet and excercise is definitely the way to go!

It's not purdy round here these days, can't even find solitude on the ice during the week! I was informed back in December that my services (30 years worth) were no longer required and was layed off for an indefinite period of time...... From the Hamilton Spectator.... In Hamilton, the unemployment rate jumped to 8 per cent in January, from 7 per cent in December. Statistics Canada says 8,000 jobs have disappeared in the city since October. Among the hardest hit have been Hamilton's steelworkers -- people such as Brock McCulloch, who was handed a layoff notice after putting in 28 years at U.S. Steel Canada's Hamilton plant.

You could go and get yourself a severe bacterial infection in the upper GI, it helped me lose 50 plus pounds in no time flat!

I know FishFarmer will be there. Me, I might come out with the dog for a walk about, we'll see. If'n I do and you see this pup running about, give me holler.

Congratualtions. As a life long smoker who has quit more times than anybody I know I can honestly say, "quiting is easy, staying off them, not so easy."

....I share your frustration guys, a real pain in the ass! I don't know what to tell yous 'cept try sleeping in till 7.

Yes Don is certainly top shelf. I hope to be able to share another day on the ice with him, sooooon.

Sweet, I'm hoping to get out there on Monday. Likely be a swimming pool by then. Oh and nice hat, looks a lot like the one I have.

Classic boat restoration tips up for grabs February 4, 2009 Jake Good / www.muskokan.com RESTORATION PROJECT. Eric Seepa works on restoring a 1949 Seabird at his workshop near Orillia. Seepa will be one of the hosts of the ACBS Toronto winter workshop in February. / Photo by Jake Good The annual Antique and Classic Boat Society Toronto winter workshop aims to show boat owners ways to increase the value of their crafts Assessing, protecting and increasing the value of classic wooden boats are the themes of this year’s ACBS Toronto winter workshop. On Saturday, February 21, Eric Seepa of Classic Boat Restorations near Orillia will be opening up his workshop to provide a hands-on demonstration of some of his restoration techniques. He will be joined by Bob Purves, who will discuss an insurer’s view of protecting a boat. David Buchanan and Patrick Wren will cover a surveyor’s view and an ACBS judge’s view of how to assess and increase the value of your boat. “We’ve been a part of the ACBS Spring Tour for four years and we are excited to be hosting this workshop,” said Seepa. “It is a chance for people to get together and talk about their passion. Wooden boats. It is also a great opportunity to speak to people in the know about repair tips, where to get rare parts and anything else boat related.” This will be the first time in a number of years that the winter workshop will be close to Muskoka. Time will be spent between Seepa’s workshop and the Orillia Fairgrounds for presentations and lunch. Hosting the workshop is a dream come true for Seepa. “I always loved working with boats,” explained Seepa. “It started when I was younger; my brother bought a wooden cruiser that needed fixing up. I remember helping him out and loving it. I then started working on friends’ boats and people started coming to me for advice or bringing me boats that needed work so it was a natural progression.” “There are always some jobs that are boring. I don’t think anyone likes the sanding process but most of the work is enjoyable. Besides people always enjoy the boat when it is done and that is the main reason this job is rewarding.” The winter workshop will also feature a number of boat owners talking about what they are having done to their boats. Experts and owners alike will be available to answer questions on anything related to boat repair and building. With a cold winter on the cards it gives wooden boat owners a real chance to enjoy their passion with others. “A lot of the enjoyment of a wooden boat is the memories it conjures up,” he said. “Their father had one and it brings back the days of youth. Then again who can’t resist a gleaming mahogany boat? You can have ten or 20 new fibreglass boats at a dock, some of them worth millions, but when a woodie pulls in you know what is going to get the attention.” Seepa does not limit himself to working on a certain style of boat and said the beauty of the trade is that you never know what you will be working on. Sometimes a job will take a few weeks, other jobs a few months. A side project he has been working on has taken around two years. A 1940s Peterborough Zephyr is the inspiration behind Seepa’s side project. Its stunning lines and racing style fired Seepa’s imagination and he has been working on a replica ever since. “We started work in 2007 so the boat will have a bit of a bond theme and be called the Zephyr 007,” said Seepa. “It really is a beautiful boat and everyone who saw it loved it. It inspired me to make a replica and I can’t wait to have it in the water later this year. It will be even better than the original as we are using modern epoxy construction that will give it the durability of fibreglass but the true style of a wooden boat. Plus we can get better engines so this boat will fly. I am hoping to make a number of them and then I’m sure another boat will come along and inspire me. They always do.” As well as showing off his restoration skills, Seepa is on hand to talk shop. Whether it is advice on shopping in flea markets for rare parts or the best stain to use on a finished job, his years of experience will be there to be tapped. For more information on the ACBS Toronto winter workshop contact Don Chapman at [email protected].

I don't see this one going anywhere but downnnnnnnnnnn. So I'll end here cause I've got to get on with my day.

Great way to spend the day, anytime. Looks rather inviting . Side note, There were only four beatles, George, Ringo, John and Paul.

Wait till day 7.

February 4, 2009 / manitoulin.ca BOAT BAPTISM: An OPP_vessel built by Henley Boats is launched for an engineering test (it passed!) in an open stretch of water at Whitefish Falls on Monday before being trailered down to central Ontario for patrol use on Lake Simcoe. photo by Peter Higgins

I love it too, but it's taken it's toll on my health. I've been on the little guys all the way up to 500 tonners and got to admit the little guys are more challenging due to the fact that they are fast! Yup, you're your own boss up there.

Never accidentily. I worked the 1210 and remember a few of the bosses, started there in 78 till 81 but I may have told you this before?

Hoisting Engineer. Okay actually it's overhead crane operator but after 25 years of operating numerous cranes I figure I've earned the title "hoisting engineer".

Watermen charged in illegal striped bass sales State, federal investigators uncover extensive poaching ring in Md., Va. January 31, 2009 Candus Thomson / www.baltimoresun.com State and federal investigators have broken up a black market involving watermen and fish dealers who sold millions of dollars' worth of striped bass, illegally taken from the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River, to shops and restaurants across the country, according to court documents filed in federal court this week. Four Maryland *watermen, one Virginia waterman, two Washington fish dealers and an upscale Georgetown fish market have been named in criminal complaints, and officials said more are expected. In addition, two St. Mary's County watermen were indicted by a federal grand jury last fall for their part in the poaching scheme, which law enforcement officials in Maryland and Virginia say is the largest ever. The timing couldn't be worse for Maryland. On Monday, the region's fishing regulatory agency is to meet in Alexandria, Va., and state officials fear that the news could trigger harsh penalties that would cripple the multimillion-dollar commercial fishing industry in the Chesapeake Bay and drive up retail fish prices. "These were fish pirates," said a high-ranking Virginia official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak about the case. "This was racketeering. Computers and records were seized. You're going to see some places go out of business." The watermen and fish dealers have been charged under the Lacey Act, which prohibits the illegal taking of wildlife in one state for the purpose of selling it in another. Violations of the act carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, plus potential forfeiture of the boats and vehicles used. Yesterday at U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, criminal complaints were filed against these watermen: Thomas L. Crowder Jr., 40, of Leonardtown; John W. Dean, 53, of Scotland; Charles Quade, 55, of Churchton; Keith Collins, 57, of Deale; and Thomas L. Hallock, 48, of Catharpin, Va. "It's news to me," Dean said when reached by phone yesterday. "It may be me. I don't know." "There have been a whole bunch of plea agreements, but I can't talk to you about it," Crowder said. Law enforcement sources said individuals have admitted to poaching as much as $1 million worth of fish each over five years. Annually, Maryland's 1,231 licensed watermen account for about 2 million pounds of the 7 million pounds of striped bass legally caught commercially on the Eastern Seaboard. The poaching scheme described in court documents and by sources means that the state vastly exceeded its annual striped bass quota for five years. Maryland's watermen are required to report their catch at one of about 30 check stations, which are run by volunteers holding fish dealer licenses. Each fish must be tagged before it is unloaded from a boat. The check stations send the information - number of fish and weight of the catch - to the Department of Natural Resources in daily phone calls and file more comprehensive in weekly written reports. But insufficient tag monitoring and allowing fish buyers to run check-in stations created a loophole that was exploited, Maryland officials acknowledge. "This is a time to be sad about the lawlessness on the bay," said Maryland DNR Secretary John R. Griffin. "There's not a whole lot you can do to sugar-coat it. We toughened the rules last summer, but that obviously wasn't enough. It's become clear we need even more accountability." The DNR is proposing regulations to tighten monitoring and enforcement of the commercial catch. Andy Hughes, chairman of Coastal Conservation Association Maryland, called the poaching "both alarming in its scope and tremendously disappointing in that it was not dealt with many years earlier." "We can't bring back the striped bass that have been stolen from us, but we can learn a lesson," Hughes said. The investigation began in 2003, when Maryland Natural Resources Police tipped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to poaching in the bay and the river. Here's how the scheme worked, according to sources and court documents: Watermen, like Joseph Peter Nelson, 69, and Joseph Peter Nelson Jr., 45, of St. Mary's County, received additional tags by filing false reports with the state about the number and weight of the striped bass they caught illegally in Maryland waters. After reaching his Potomac River quota, the younger Nelson allegedly began using his tags designated for Chesapeake Bay use. From 2003 to 2006, he also used the commercial license of a waterman referred to in the indictment as "J.R." to secure more tags and falsify that catch. Instead of carrying out transactions dockside, the indictment says, undercover officers from Virginia Marine Police posing as wholesale buyers took delivery of the fish from the Nelsons or unnamed men listed as unindicted co-conspirators at a private home in St. Mary's County, a walk-in cooler, a parking lot and near a bridge on a county road. Other watermen joined the scheme, creating a supply of striped bass so vast that poachers and dealers brought workers into fish packing houses after hours to process the catch, sources say. Both Nelsons have pleaded not guilty and contend that the statements they made to Maryland officers were made before they were read their rights. Louis Fireison, lawyer for the younger Nelson, said he could not discuss the case at this point. Lisa Lunt, lawyer for the elder Nelson, declined to comment. To catch buyers, undercover officers peddled undersized, oversized and out-of-season striped bass. Court documents show that for four years, beginning in April 2003, Robert Moore and Robert Moore Jr., who own Cannon Seafood Inc., in Washington, sold illegal striped bass and helped other unnamed people buy and sell fish. Griffin said he hopes to see more joint enforcement efforts on the bay, an idea seconded by Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for Maryland. "This is not the sort of case you can prove by looking at a fish once it's on a plate in a restaurant or somebody's kitchen. You have to actually be there when the fish are caught and when they're sold at the first stage," Rosenstein said. "I hope that this will be a model for other similar investigations because it's really critical that we join forces to pursue these kinds of cases." DNR officials worry that this poaching scheme might eventually lead to Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission sanctions. ASMFC Commissioner Pat Augustine of New York predicted that his fellow commissioners "will demand some form of punishment when this hits the table ... that could shut down commercial striped bass fishing in the Chesapeake. Maryland needs to come to the table eating humble pie." *Watermen; Chesapeake Bay Area. a person with a general license to take any legal catch of fish and shellfish in Chesapeake Bay.

Fish poop fights climate change Excretions counteract acidity in oceans from carbon dioxide January 16, 2009 Lena Sin / www.canwest.com Scientists have discovered that fish play a major role in the marine carbon cycle, making them unexpected allies against climate change. Previously, UN scientists have warned that when the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere, it also becomes more acidic, threatening coral reefs and other sea life. This new study, to be published today in the journal Science, shows fish excretions of calcium carbonate can offset this acidity. "This study really is the first glimpse of the huge impact fish have on our carbon cycle -- and why we need them in the ocean," said Villy Christensen, associate professor at the University of B.C. Fisheries Centre. "We must buck the current trend of clear-cutting of the oceans and foster these unrecognized allies against climate change." Until now, scientists believed the ocean's calcium carbonate, which dissolves to control the acidity, or pH, of sea water, came from the external "skeletons" of plankton. The new findings now show that fish are responsible for producing three to 15 per cent of marine calcium carbonate. The team of researchers from Canada, the U.S. and U.K., say the estimate is conservative and could be three times higher. By continuously drinking sea water, fish are ingesting an excess of calcium, which they turn into calcium carbonate crystals in their guts. They then simply excrete these unwanted "gut rocks" in a process that's separate from digestion and production of feces. The fish that produce calcium carbonate are "bony fish," a group that includes 90 per cent of marine fish species, but not sharks or rays. As part of the study, Christensen helped answer the daunting question of how many fish are in the sea. Christensen and colleague Simon Jennings from the U.K.'s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science conducted independent studies and came to similar conclusions. They estimate there are between 812 million and two billion tonnes of fish in the ocean.

I've made similar ventures through the white stuff for fewer brookies but it was always worth it!

Good looking fish Doug. Hmmmmm, does not appear to be any fin clips.

That won't be happening. But you could tell me if you like, I'd be happy to listen. Just heard the bell, I believe this one's over.

....Ah, a nice little feather in your cap. Congrats.

Jackson Point can be hot fishing but without transportation the 5 to 7 km hike is too much for anyone. The west shore is the place for us walkers. That aside you did manage to salvage the day with some nice perch.