N.J. Angler Pulled Overboard by Bluefin
Several anglers discovered an empty boat 13 miles off the Beaufort/Morehead City coast Dec. 8, a harpoon line trailing in the water.
(PRWEB) December 15, 2004 -- Several anglers discovered an empty boat 13
miles off the Beaufort/Morehead City coast Dec. 8, a harpoon line trailing in
the water.
One of the anglers who jumped aboard the empty vessel and
retrieved the line found a live-but-speared bluefin tuna attached to the harpoon
- and the captain’s body entangled in the line.
Bruce Bartlett of South
Plainfield, N.J., apparently harpooned the fish, but his left leg was caught in
the 200-foot line, Coast Guard officials said. When the powerful fish tried to
escape, Bartlett was pulled into the ocean.
The National Marine
Fisheries Service reopened the commercial bluefin tuna season at 12:30 a.m.,
Dec. 8. The season had been closed since Nov. 19. Bluefin tuna, purchased by Far
Eastern buyers at the dock, can be sold for several thousand dollars per fish,
depending upon the tuna’s size and its condition.
Bartlett was a
commercial fisherman who traveled the coast with a group of seven other boats
from the N.J. area. He was alone in the 35-foot boat, Flat Calm, when he died,
fighting a fish that can weigh from 200 to 500 pounds.
Friends of
Bartlett said he normally fished with a partner but couldn’t find anyone to go
with him Wednesday morning before he left Beaufort.
“(Bluefin tunas)
aren’t easy to handle by yourself,” Coast Guard ensign Andy Greenwood told a
reporter.
Greenwood said Bartlett’s was one of several fishing vessels
that left Morehead City early Wednesday. He was last seen at 8 a.m. Other tuna
anglers found his boat, the tuna, and Barlett's body at approximately 9:30 a.m.
The tuna dropped off the harpoon as the angler pulled Bartlett’s body to his
boat.
Anthony Ng of Winterville, a commercial fisherman who was also in
the area that morning, told a coastal newspaper reporter that 6- and 7-foot
swells were battering the boats. Ng said many fishermen often work alone,
hauling in tuna on giant rods, then using harpoons to impale them and chase the
fish until the fish expire.
The Coast Guard advises anglers to use
multiple crewmembers and never to fish alone.
The commercial bluefin
tuna season ends Dec. 20 in N.C. waters.
For the latest in outdoor
features, news and columns, subscribe to North Carolina Sportsman magazine by
calling (800) 538-4355 or visiting www.northcarolinasportsman.com.
This story may be
printed for Free in any on-line or print publication. Tagline found at the end
of the story must be included.
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/12/prweb188569.htm