Carlos Rafael and his Catch Heard 'Round the World

Less than a week ago, the story of Cape Cod commercial fisherman Carlos Rafael and his 881 pound bluefin tuna went from local headline to full-blown international controversy.  The serendipitous beast became entangled in his net while his crew was groundfishing for bottom dwellers off the coast of Cape Cod. Unfortunately for Rafael, catching bluefin in a net instead of on a line is illegal. Upon the fishing vessel's return to shore, the feds confiscated his potential money-maker. A similarly sized tuna was recently sold on the Japanese market for upwards of $300,000. In an update this morning, Monica Allen from NOAA reported that the fish, whose condition was said to have been deteriorated by contact with the net, was sold at a mere $5,000 by federal agents. Of those $5,000 Rafael received none.

Carlos Rafael and his world famous tuna.

To get an idea of how this news spread virally read this fascinating excerpt from Saving Seafood RSS:

"The news broke on Monday. By Tuesday, the story had hit the AP wire and was headlining in papers from coast to coast, from the Boston Globe to the San Francisco Chronicle. It went overseas for appearances in the UK's Daily Mirror and the Emirates 24/7 in Dubai. It bounced through the blogosphere, from the Drudge Report and the Outdoor Life Magazine blog to online news venues like Yahoo!, where it was Tuesday's top story. As of Wednesday, a Google search with the fisherman's name and the word "tuna" generates more than 150,000 results."


And that my friends is a tale of modern technology...


Everyone seems to have an opinion on this issue, but it looks like the grand majority is rooting for team Carlos. I believe that he should have been able to keep his lucky catch. I support the 100% Catch Rule: Whatever you catch in your net during a haul, you keep. This rule would prevent the wasting of fish that is "undesirable." Fish caught it a net, especially small species or baby fish, are often crushed by water pressure and other fish joining the bundle. If said fish are smaller than legal size limit, out of season, or worth less money than the others, they are thrown overboard only to die from injuries upon release. On the other hand, you have circumstances like that of Carlos Rafael where clearly the 100% Catch Rule would have worked in his favor.

The elusive bluefin: Perhaps the most controversial fish in the sea,

I am working on getting a brief interview with Carlos himself.  Stay tuned for updates!


Thanks MIKA GILMORE (Architect from Boston) for being the first to bring this article to my attention.