RockLobsta
04-16-2005, 06:04 PM
A buddy of mine sent me this article he found in the Gloucester times....
Gloucester crew encounters killer whales
By Peter K. Prybot
Correspondent
The crew of the 67-foot Gloucester-based stern trawler David James — owner/operator Steve Perkins, Joe Vaiarella and John Mione — experienced something they had never seen before during their combined nearly 100 years of fishing on April 2 about 40 miles east of Gloucester.
Killer whales.
"It was quite a sight; I wish I had a camera," said Perkins.
Around noon that eventful Saturday, Perkins said, "the rainstorm had just begun; there was a little bit of wind."
The David James was about to haul up its groundfish trawl from the dark, muddy bottom more than 700 feet down near the wreck of the Bonaventure on Jeffreys Ledge for the final time of this two-day fishing trip that targeted monkfish and grey sole. The Bonaventure was a large Eastern rig, wooden-side trawler out of Gloucester that sank in the 1970s.
"I had the watch. About 10 minutes before hauling back, I went aft on deck to look at the towing wires (coming off each side of the stern gantry). About a quarter of a mile away, I saw a tall fin come up and then disappear amongst a school of porpoises," Perkins said.
Fishermen frequently check the spread of the two towing wires which connect the moving trawl and its doors on the bottom to the vessel.
Wires spread apart signal the fishing gear below is working correctly.
While this was going on, Mione and Vaiarella were counting sheep from their fo'c'stle bunks.
Perkins soon told his crew of the unusual fin sighting as they put on their oilskins and readied to haul back the gear, store it on deck as quickly as possible and head for Gloucester. The fin sighting story was greeted with skepticism by Mione and Vaiarella.
In no time, the David James' hydraulic main trawl winches began winding in the heavy otter trawl as Perkins steered and slowly throttled the vessel forward about three to four knots. Mione and Vaiarella took their rear-corner positions ready to hook up the doors to their gallous frame blocks, wind up the net on the net reel, and empty the catch on deck. Porpoises then encircled the David James and slowly swam ahead with it, often arcing out of the water.
"The porpoises often chase the net, we see that happen all the time,"
Perkins said. Fish that escape through the cod end — the net section where the catch accumulates — make easy meals for the porpoises.
"When the trawl doors came to the surface, they came right to the boat.
I said, 'What the @#!!@ are they? They don't belong here'," said Mione.
A startled Vaiarella added, "I saw this big fin. I told John that's an awful big fin for a porpoise. I had to look at them five times, and then I realized, because of their huge sizes, black-and-white color, these were killer whales. These two were 16 to 18 feet long. Their dorsal fins were very tall and erect. I've never seen a killer whale out there in my 44 years of fishing. I've seen all kinds of other whales, except a blue whale."
The killer whales stayed with the David James during the five- to seven-minute-long haul-back time, at one point coming to within just five feet of Vaiarella and Mione, who watched them from the side railing.
"They were together. They were playing away, having a good time. A few times they arced right out of the water alongside of us like nothing at all. Other times, the killer whales turned over on their sides slightly and looked right at the boat," said Vaiarella.
Perkins said, "These killer whales had great girth. They were cruising easily. They had plenty of power."
As the David James slowed right down to reel in its net from the stern, the whales came to within 10 feet of the stern.
"They popped their heads up and opened their mouths," Mione said. "They looked like they had big smiles on their faces, and it was as though they were showing off their big pearly white teeth saying, 'Look, no cavities.'"
"After we got the net up, the killer whales lost interest in us, and we lost interest in them," said Perkins, who added, "The killer whales were acting very similar to the porpoises. The porpoises didn't seem to be overly excited by their presence. The whales seemed to be interested in what we were doing and also interested in the cod end. They could have been drawn by the boat's sonar, too."
At no time did the crewmen feel endangered by the whales, although these powerful mammals could have conceivably rocketed out of the water right onto the vessel's open deck. Those readers who have viewed the killer whale show at Sea World in Florida have some idea of their power.
Just last week, the David James returned to the same fishing grounds.
"I thought we would see the whales again. We saw the porpoises, but no whales. They were probably just passing by," Perkins said.
On the grounds, Perkins conversed over the radio with captain Billy Train, who was commanding the Portland-based stern trawler Theresa & Allison and was fishing nearby. The Theresa & Allison also had an encounter with the two killer whales three days after the David James did.
Killer whale literature reveals these animals inhabit most of the world's oceans. Occasional sightings of killer whales have occurred inshore and off Cape Ann, especially in the summer and fall when the whales have attacked giant bluefin tuna. The animal's jaws have up to
56 three-inch-long conical-shaped canine teeth which aid in ripping and tearing. Their diet includes fish, sea turtles, and other large and small marine mammals, including porpoises.
"Killer whales have been observed feeding on fish while in the company of other dolphins, minke whales and Dall's porpoises. They may all be prey of killer whales at other times," reports the literature.
Male or bull killer whales, often characterized by having straight dorsal fins, commonly reach 22 feet and six tons; females, which have more of a curved dorsal fin, can grow up to 19 feet long and weigh up to 8,000 pounds.
Exploding seal numbers could bring more killer whales closer to Cape Ann's shore, since the prey often attracts the predators. The seals could have also drawn that great white shark who got temporarily trapped in Cape Cod waters last summer.
Gloucester crew encounters killer whales
By Peter K. Prybot
Correspondent
The crew of the 67-foot Gloucester-based stern trawler David James — owner/operator Steve Perkins, Joe Vaiarella and John Mione — experienced something they had never seen before during their combined nearly 100 years of fishing on April 2 about 40 miles east of Gloucester.
Killer whales.
"It was quite a sight; I wish I had a camera," said Perkins.
Around noon that eventful Saturday, Perkins said, "the rainstorm had just begun; there was a little bit of wind."
The David James was about to haul up its groundfish trawl from the dark, muddy bottom more than 700 feet down near the wreck of the Bonaventure on Jeffreys Ledge for the final time of this two-day fishing trip that targeted monkfish and grey sole. The Bonaventure was a large Eastern rig, wooden-side trawler out of Gloucester that sank in the 1970s.
"I had the watch. About 10 minutes before hauling back, I went aft on deck to look at the towing wires (coming off each side of the stern gantry). About a quarter of a mile away, I saw a tall fin come up and then disappear amongst a school of porpoises," Perkins said.
Fishermen frequently check the spread of the two towing wires which connect the moving trawl and its doors on the bottom to the vessel.
Wires spread apart signal the fishing gear below is working correctly.
While this was going on, Mione and Vaiarella were counting sheep from their fo'c'stle bunks.
Perkins soon told his crew of the unusual fin sighting as they put on their oilskins and readied to haul back the gear, store it on deck as quickly as possible and head for Gloucester. The fin sighting story was greeted with skepticism by Mione and Vaiarella.
In no time, the David James' hydraulic main trawl winches began winding in the heavy otter trawl as Perkins steered and slowly throttled the vessel forward about three to four knots. Mione and Vaiarella took their rear-corner positions ready to hook up the doors to their gallous frame blocks, wind up the net on the net reel, and empty the catch on deck. Porpoises then encircled the David James and slowly swam ahead with it, often arcing out of the water.
"The porpoises often chase the net, we see that happen all the time,"
Perkins said. Fish that escape through the cod end — the net section where the catch accumulates — make easy meals for the porpoises.
"When the trawl doors came to the surface, they came right to the boat.
I said, 'What the @#!!@ are they? They don't belong here'," said Mione.
A startled Vaiarella added, "I saw this big fin. I told John that's an awful big fin for a porpoise. I had to look at them five times, and then I realized, because of their huge sizes, black-and-white color, these were killer whales. These two were 16 to 18 feet long. Their dorsal fins were very tall and erect. I've never seen a killer whale out there in my 44 years of fishing. I've seen all kinds of other whales, except a blue whale."
The killer whales stayed with the David James during the five- to seven-minute-long haul-back time, at one point coming to within just five feet of Vaiarella and Mione, who watched them from the side railing.
"They were together. They were playing away, having a good time. A few times they arced right out of the water alongside of us like nothing at all. Other times, the killer whales turned over on their sides slightly and looked right at the boat," said Vaiarella.
Perkins said, "These killer whales had great girth. They were cruising easily. They had plenty of power."
As the David James slowed right down to reel in its net from the stern, the whales came to within 10 feet of the stern.
"They popped their heads up and opened their mouths," Mione said. "They looked like they had big smiles on their faces, and it was as though they were showing off their big pearly white teeth saying, 'Look, no cavities.'"
"After we got the net up, the killer whales lost interest in us, and we lost interest in them," said Perkins, who added, "The killer whales were acting very similar to the porpoises. The porpoises didn't seem to be overly excited by their presence. The whales seemed to be interested in what we were doing and also interested in the cod end. They could have been drawn by the boat's sonar, too."
At no time did the crewmen feel endangered by the whales, although these powerful mammals could have conceivably rocketed out of the water right onto the vessel's open deck. Those readers who have viewed the killer whale show at Sea World in Florida have some idea of their power.
Just last week, the David James returned to the same fishing grounds.
"I thought we would see the whales again. We saw the porpoises, but no whales. They were probably just passing by," Perkins said.
On the grounds, Perkins conversed over the radio with captain Billy Train, who was commanding the Portland-based stern trawler Theresa & Allison and was fishing nearby. The Theresa & Allison also had an encounter with the two killer whales three days after the David James did.
Killer whale literature reveals these animals inhabit most of the world's oceans. Occasional sightings of killer whales have occurred inshore and off Cape Ann, especially in the summer and fall when the whales have attacked giant bluefin tuna. The animal's jaws have up to
56 three-inch-long conical-shaped canine teeth which aid in ripping and tearing. Their diet includes fish, sea turtles, and other large and small marine mammals, including porpoises.
"Killer whales have been observed feeding on fish while in the company of other dolphins, minke whales and Dall's porpoises. They may all be prey of killer whales at other times," reports the literature.
Male or bull killer whales, often characterized by having straight dorsal fins, commonly reach 22 feet and six tons; females, which have more of a curved dorsal fin, can grow up to 19 feet long and weigh up to 8,000 pounds.
Exploding seal numbers could bring more killer whales closer to Cape Ann's shore, since the prey often attracts the predators. The seals could have also drawn that great white shark who got temporarily trapped in Cape Cod waters last summer.