A great victory for US fisherman was won today in Quatar where at the CITES convention the US backed proposal to ban tuna fishing in the US was DEFEATED by a lopsided vote.  Until today, the tuna season was in jeapordy of being suspended as if the listing had occured, Bluefin Tuna would have become an "endangered species" and immediately the sale of tuna internationally would have be banned.  That would have put every commercial tuna fisherman in the US out of business...just what this ecomony dosent need.

My concern was after seeing the way the US Fish & Wildlife Service banned the taking of wolfish (which is only a species of concern) beginning 5/01/2010,  I was truly concerned that they would be encouraged by the present administration to ban the taking of any tuna...especially the "babies" of an endangered species.  The PEW Foundation ( an anti fishing organization) has a strong ally in the head of NOAA..Dr Jane Lubchenco, who in the past worked for PEW.  Although we dodged a bullet this time, you can bet they wont give up and we will need to continue the fight in the future including President Obama's Ocean Zoning plans and Sen Kerry's  Whale Bill (more on these items later)

So...Great News...we are tuna fishing this year!  RIght now in NC the fish they are taking are averaging 71"-250lbs+ which means we are going to be in for a wild time when they get up here come June.  I am planning to add some heavy rods to the arsenal and am looking forward to hunting these great fish again this summer and fall.

The Lady DIane is going to receive her spring commissioning later next week, and I hope to have her in the water just after the first of April.  We can fish cod in state waters beginning April 1 so I plan to do a couple trips on my own to see which rock they are hiding under this year, so by the time of my first charter, April 17th, I plan to have a fence around them...hopefully Ed and the CT boys will leave a couple for the rest of my charters!!

BAD NEWS....The only charters dates left in May are the 16th, 29th and 30th, so if you are interested, please call ASAP as I book on a first come first served basis.  June is pretty open and last year we had great trips still on top of the bank (shallow water) all the way through June.  As a bonus thats when Charlie shows up each year and I always have a couple rods on board for him even though we are targeting cod/haddock.  The first tuna that show in June are usually the big guys so if you want a chance at a Giant on standup that is a great time to book a  full tuna charter (we can still catch a few groundfish as well if you are interested).  Remember if you book any charter for 2010 before 4/1/2010 you will receive a $50 and it looks like I will be having alot more days to fish on come September (announcement forth-coming)

Thats all for now...Can you tell I am getting EXCITED about fishing !!