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Salt Island is an island off the coast of Westbrook, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The island is very easy to get to from the Westbrook public beaches, as it is only 500 feet away from land. Because the island was so close to land, people would often haul carts and horses to the island on a shallow day to gather materials for themselves.
"In the year of 1871, Theodore D. Post, together with his brother, Gilbert A. Post, and three neighbors, J.L. Stokes, George Kirtland and C.R. Stannard, organized and operated the Salt Island Oil Company to manufacture Manhaden Oil and Fish Guano. Theodore Post acted as President and Treasurer and he took care of all the bookkeeping and paper work. Almost all of the operation took place on Salt Island, a short distance from the shore off Middle Beach [in Westbrook, CT]. The company constructed several small buildings, a dock, heating facilities and a press to separate the oil from the fish. A great deal of fishing gear was assembled, including boats, nets, and sails and one large scow. The operation consisted of catching large quantities of fish in nets, heating them in large iron vats, and then pressing out the oil. The oil was put into wooden vats or barrels and shipped by boat, mostly to New York City. The residue of the fish, consisted of scraps, bones, skin, heads, etc. was sold as Fish Guano, or fertilizer. Many of the farmers in Westbrook used this product and the soil became very rich and produced excellent crops.
Theodore's son, Edwin Albert Post, spent much of his boyhood working and playing around Salt Island during the fifteen years the company was in operation. His mother died when he was ten years old, so it became his job to take care of the home and his little sister, do the cooking and the farm chores while his father was busy catching fish and manufacturing the oil and guano. They worked out a system of signals so that if something was needed on the Island or at home, a message could be sent from a window in the house which could be seen on Salt Island. There were no telephones in Town at that time. If needed, father could drive a horse or a yoke of oxen with a load of wood to the island at low tide, or any other materials which might be needed. Often, he would bring a load of seaweed home to bank around the foundation of the house to keep it warm during winter months or put the seaweed into the cow yard to keep the animals clean and to add to the fertilizer needed for planting in the spring.
The Company prospered until 1886. About that time, well-to-do families from the large cities began to build summer homes on the beautiful shores of Westbrook and they objected to the odor from the oil and guano factory. The summer residents finally succeeded in having the operation closed by law." [1]
Salt Island is also home to a number of kinds of animals, being watched over by the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge. Some parts of the island are not accessible due to wild seabird habitats. The indigenous animals that can be found on Salt Island include channeled whelks, Atlantic horseshoe crabs, common periwinkle, North American spider crabs, giant hermit crabs, terns, and oystercatchers.
The island is also known for its strange rock formations. The rocks are carved from constant wave splashing and the changing of the tides. The rocks are short and almost resemble waves of the ocean. They can be touched but if not careful, you will cut yourself due to the intricate edges on the rocks from hundreds of years of formation.
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping. “Fishing” may include catching aquatic animals other than fish, such as molluscs, cephalopods, crustaceans, and echinoderms. The term is not normally applied to catching farmed fish, or to aquatic mammals, such as whales where the term whaling is more appropriate. In addition to being caught to be eaten, fish are caught as recreational pastimes. Fishing tournaments are held, and caught fish are sometimes kept as preserved or living trophies. When bioblitzes occur, fish are typically caught, identified, and then released.
Long Island Sound is a tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, lying predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north, and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches 110 miles (177 km) from the East River in New York City, along the North Shore of Long Island, to Block Island Sound. A mix of freshwater from tributaries and saltwater from the ocean, Long Island Sound is 21 miles (34 km) at its widest point and varies in depth from 65 to 230 feet.
The Atlantic wolffish, also known as the seawolf, Atlantic catfish, ocean catfish, devil fish, wolf eel, woof or sea cat, is a marine fish of the wolffish family Anarhichadidae, native to the North Atlantic Ocean. The numbers of the Atlantic wolffish in US waters are rapidly being depleted, most likely due to overfishing and bycatch, and it is currently a Species of Concern according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service.
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the earth, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions. Large-scale commercial fishing is also known as industrial fishing. This profession has gained in popularity with the development of shows such as Deadliest Catch, Swords, and Wicked Tuna. The major fishing industries are not only owned by major corporations but by small families as well. The industry has had to adapt through the years in order to keep earning a profit. A study taken on some small family-owned commercial fishing companies showed that they adapted to continue to earn a living but not necessarily make a large profit. It is the adaptability of the fishermen and their methods that cause some concern for fishery managers and researchers; they say that for those reasons, the sustainability of the marine ecosystems could be in danger of being ruined.
Sargassum is a genus of brown macroalgae (seaweed) in the order Fucales. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral reefs, and the genus is widely known for its planktonic (free-floating) species. Most species within the class Phaeophyceae are predominantly cold-water organisms that benefit from nutrients upwelling, but the genus Sargassum appears to be an exception. Any number of the normally benthic species may take on a planktonic, often pelagic existence after being removed from reefs during rough weather; however, two species have become holopelagic—reproducing vegetatively and never attaching to the seafloor during their lifecycles. The Atlantic Ocean's Sargasso Sea was named after the algae, as it hosts a large amount of Sargassum.
Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been left or lost in the ocean by fishermen. These nets, often nearly invisible in the dim light, can be left tangled on a rocky reef or drifting in the open sea. They can entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, dugongs, crocodiles, seabirds, crabs, and other creatures, including the occasional human diver. Acting as designed, the nets restrict movement, causing starvation, laceration and infection, and suffocation in those that need to return to the surface to breathe.
Rocket nets and cannon nets are types of animal traps used to trap many live animals, usually birds, but they also have been used to catch large animals such as various species of deer. Rocket nets, cannon nets, and other net launching devices are built upon similar principles have been used since the 1950s.
The ballan wrasse is a species of marine ray finned fish from the family Labridae, the wrasses. It is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean where it inhabits rock areas. Like many wrasse species it is a protogynous hermaphrodite, starting life as females with some dominant fish becoming males. It is used as a food fish in some areas and it is also finding use as a cleaner fish in the aquaculture of Atlantic salmon in north western Europe.
Great Bay is a tidal estuary located in Strafford and Rockingham counties in eastern New Hampshire, United States. The bay occupies over 6,000 acres (24 km2), not including its several tidal river tributaries. Its outlet is at Hilton Point in Dover, New Hampshire, where waters from the bay flow into the Piscataqua River, thence proceeding southeast to the Atlantic Ocean near Portsmouth. The northern end of the bay, near its outlet, is referred to as Little Bay.
Notomithrax ursus, known as the hairy seaweed crab, is a spider crab of the family Majidae.
Gunnison Island is located in the northwest quadrant of the Great Salt Lake in Box Elder County, Utah, United States, approximately 55 miles (89 km) northwest of Salt Lake City and about 6 miles (9.7 km) east from the lake's western shore. Approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide, Gunnison Island is best known as an important rookery for the American white pelican. The California gull also nests on the island, and occasional nesters include the great blue heron, common raven, prairie falcon, and rock wren.
Reedville is an unincorporated town in Northumberland County in the Northern Neck region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It is located at the eastern terminus of U.S. Route 360 east of Heathsville, at the head of Cockrell's Creek on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
The Puget Sound king crab, Lopholithodes mandtii, is a species of king crab which inhabits the oceans of the Pacific coast of North America from Alaska to central California. Adults are orange, red and purple in color, while juveniles are either mostly orange or have small blotches of red and purple. They can be recognized by their blunt bumps on their carapace. Puget Sound king crabs are larger than the similar brown box crab, with an average size of 6-10 inches. They are protected by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, so it is not advised to harvest it.
The food of the Tlingit people, an indigenous people from Alaska, British Columbia, and the Yukon, is a central part of Tlingit culture, and the land is an abundant provider. A saying amongst the Tlingit is that "When the tide goes out the table is set." This refers to the richness of intertidal life found on the beaches of Southeast Alaska, most of which can be harvested for food. Another saying is that "in Lingít Aaní you have to be an idiot to starve". Since food is so easy to gather from the beaches, a person who can't feed himself at least enough to stay alive is considered a fool, perhaps mentally incompetent or suffering from very bad luck. Though eating off the beach could provide a fairly healthy and varied diet, eating nothing but "beach food" is considered contemptible among the Tlingit, and a sign of poverty. Shamans and their families were required to abstain from all food gathered from the beach, and men might avoid eating beach food before battles or strenuous activities in the belief that it would weaken them spiritually and perhaps physically as well. Thus for both spiritual reasons as well as to add some variety to the diet, the Tlingit harvest many other resources for food besides what they easily find outside their front doors. No other food resource receives as much emphasis as salmon; however, seal and game are both close seconds.
Fishing techniques are methods for catching fish. The term may also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs and edible marine invertebrates.
Gim (김), also romanized as kim, is the Korean name for edible seaweed species in the genera Pyropia and Porphyra, including P. tenera, P. yezoensis, P. suborbiculata, P. pseudolinearis, P. dentata, and P. seriata. The red algae genera are also consumed in Japanese cuisine as nori (海苔), in Chinese cuisine as haitai (海苔) or zicai (紫菜), and in Wales and Ireland as laverbread.
The Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge is a 14,000-acre (57 km2) wildlife preserve operated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. It is primarily located on the Virginia half of Assateague Island with portions located on the Maryland side of the island, as well as Morris Island and Wildcat Marsh. The refuge contains a large variety of wildlife animals and birds, including the Chincoteague Pony. The purpose of the refuge is to maintain, regulate and preserve animal and plant species as well as their habitats for present and future generations.
A hand net, also called a scoop net or dip net, is a net or mesh basket held open by a hoop. It may or may not be on the end of a handle. Hand nets have been used since antiquity and can be used for scooping fish near the surface of the water, such as muskellunge or northern pike.
The brown wrasse is a species of wrasse native to the Eastern Atlantic from Portugal to Morocco, including the Azores, as well as in the Mediterranean Sea. This species can reach 45 cm (18 in) in standard length, though most do not exceed more than 40 cm (16 in).
Salambáw, is a type of lift net used by indigenous fishermen in the Philippines. They are found throughout the Philippine islands but are most prevalent in large lakes like Laguna de Bay, and sheltered coastal areas like the Manila Bay, Ragay Gulf, and Batan Bay. Variations of salambáw lift nets include the bintol, panak, tangkal, and the basnig. Salambáw rafts were also known as saraboa or salakab.