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Capt Lou's Nautical News

CAPT LOU'S NAUTICAL NEWS 7/13/08 A) The body of 59-year-old Quincy court officer Anthony "Tony" Tufo, who drowned after falling from a boat in Boston Harbor on July 3rd, was recovered yesterday morning, some 10 days later. A Coast Guard spokesperson said a "good Samaritan" came across the body in the harbor near the airport. State police transported the remains to the Medical Examiner's office for further investigation. Tufo was aboard the 34 foot boat named Nina Maria with 7 other people when he went overboard in relatively calm seas. The skipper of the boat was Weymouth attorney Joseph Flaherty. Flaherty previously was commander of the state police homicide unit before he retired from that position. B) This past week, the town of Scituate joined New Bedford and Gloucester to participate in what is called the Fishing for Energy" program. Commercial fisherman from Scituate and maybe surrounding ports can now sell abandoned nets, traps, and other debris pulled out of the water, to an energy company that turns the trash into electricity. Covanta Energy of Fairfield, New Jersey, along with NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation organized the program. In the past, fishermen either threw the trash back into the water or brought it home and disposed of it at their own expense. A spokesperson from the energy company estimated that one ton of marine debris could generate enough fuel to power a home for 25 days. C) Coast Guard Station Chatham just accepted delivery of the newest boat of its kind in the Coast Guard fleet. It is a brand new 42-foot gray and orange search-and-rescue boat. Its hull is an inflatable, but its superstructure is aluminum. The boat is so new that the crew at Station Chatham will be helping to write its user manual. The new search-and-rescue craft is designed to carry 14 to 20 people and has a watertight hold under the bow for survivors of an accident. The aluminum cabin is also watertight and the boat is self-righting. The boat is fully computerized and has no steering wheel - just a joy stick. D) After searching day and night, the Coast Guard suspended its search for a 65-year-old man who fell off his 32 foot sailboat near the Sakonnet River in Rhode Island. The mission has now changed to a search and recovery instead of a search and rescue. The man's wife radioed a mayday after she saw her husband fall overboard. It was reported that her husband had been hit in the head by the boom of the sailboat and knocked off the boat. He was not wearing a life jacket. E) The red tide that infected Boston Harbor and Quincy Bay for the first time in more than three decades has now dissipated. The toxic algae has gone away. Boston, Quincy Bay, and many other South Shore and Cape Cod communities have re-opened for shellfishing. The recent closings cost shellfishermen in Massachusetts about $1 million over the last six weeks. F) A national consumer advocacy group called Food & Water Watch is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over an underwater experiment in Buzzards Bay. The group wants to stop fish farmers and scientists from training juvenile black sea bass to return every day to a dome-shaped structure anchored on the bottom of Buzzards Bay to be caught. The trained fish are supposed to return to the dome to eat whenever they hear a special underwater tone. If the experiment is successful, fish farmers would no longer need nets or pens to catch fish. The fish would live in the wild and return to the dome to eat upon hearing the special sound. In their lawsuit, the Food & Water Watch group claimed the health and genetic diversity of the wild fish populations would be impacted if the farm-raised fish and a wild, natural mated. G) July 23 marks the 52nd year that Harvey's Salt Water Fishing Club in Quincy has invited local disabled veterans to go fishing in Boston Harbor. Most of the veterans come from the area's Veterans Administration hospitals. For many of them, this is the one day they spend outside the hospital. After they return from fishing, a sit down dinner is served at the Quincy Yacht Club. Everything is donated, including the boats and fuel. Many of the boats come from Hingham and Hull, thanks to the Boston Harbor Lobstermen's Association. H) Police on Cape Cod urged boat owners to secure their marine electronics. There has been a rash of thefts involving chartplotters and GPS electronics left on boats docked at the marinas. At least four units were reported stolen in the past couple of weeks. Some of the units can sell for thousands of dollars. I) Eating popular farm raised fish such as tilapia or catfish may actually be bad for your heart because the fish contain low levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids and high levels of unhealthy omega-6 fatty acids. New research suggests that farm raised fish could be particularly bad for patients with heart disease, arthritis, asthma, or other diseases involving overactive inflammatory responses. Scientists claim that fish farmers feed their fish food that's inexpensive, and the food doesn't allow the fish to develop healthy omega-3s. J) And last but definitely not least on today's nautical news, a very large shark, possibly a great white, was spotted by a lifeguard off South Beach on Martha's Vineyard, the same place where the movie Jaws was filmed. Moments later, a pilot spotted the same shark and estimated it to be 20 - 25 feet long. Everyone at the beach was ordered out of the water, but not everyone obeyed. The Edgartown Harbor Master told reporters that "this indeed was a large shark" and then went out in his boat to search for the animal. An airplane was brought in by the state to help in the search. So far, no further sightings of the monster shark have been reported, but the seals are plentiful and that's what sharks like to eat. Listen to the live broadcast of "Nautical Talk Radio" with Capt Lou and crew, Sunday mornings from 11 - 12 noon (Boston time) on radio station 95.9FM WATD, Marshfield, and streaming around the world on www.959watd.com. You can also listen to a replay of the most recent show anytime during the week at www.nauticaltalk.com. * Winner of Mass/Rhode Island Associated Press "BEST TALK SHOW" * Recipient of Joshua James Lifesaving Medal for public service * Recipient of American Lighthouse Foundation's "LEN HADLEY AWARD" * Winner of Boston's Achievement In Radio "BEST INTERVIEW" AWARD  * Nominated Boston's A.I.R. "BEST PRODUCED PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAM"

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