Second boat comes in with huge haul of fish!

Yesterday we had the first fishermen come in on the beach with their net and I blogged it.  Later in the afternoon another boat pulled a huge net into shore.

It all started with the pelicans going into a feeding frenzy just off our beach.  This means big fish are chasing little fish to the surface.  This attracted the fishermen.

Pelicans diving

The fishermen ran a circular net around the fish and started hauling it in to shore.  There are lead weights on the bottom of the net and floats on top so they drag it in slowly.

Pelicans looking for small fish in the net.

Heavy work pulling it in.

Woohoo!

It took a long time to haul it to shore.

All Crevalle Jacks

Crevalle Jacks

Everybody getting into the work.

The fish were thrown into the boat.  This was the most fish I have ever seen caught here like this.  A tremendous achievement for these fishermen.  Everyone was excited, yelling and laughing.  The air was electric with glee.

Time to gather the nets neatly and load them in the boat too.

Now we just have to get the boat off the sand.

Oh oh

Hmm, not that way.

Maybe this way, nose first.

Hmm

A few big waves and a lot of rocking and away.

Common engine, Yes!

Off they went to La Peñita waving goodbye to us.  Friends saw them loading the gutted and iced fish on a truck today in town.  Probably headed off to disperse it to other towns.  These guys probably had a big cerveza celebration last night.  They earned it.

A fine day for fishing!

There were a lot of fishermen busy on our beach today.

Great Blue Heron

Brown Pelican

Then a boat threw a net in a circle and hauled it onto the beach.  I spotted it when it was already beached.

They were sorting out the fish they wanted to keep and throwing the others back into the ocean.  They were doing this as quickly as they could and I was amazed at how they managed to throw back the rays and pufferfish without getting a sting.

Toss those fish and rays back.

I believe this is a Stingray and not a Skate.

Most of the fish made it back into the ocean.

Pufferfish

Pufferfish can puff up when threatened by swallowing huge amounts of water or air.   This species has spines as well.  Almost all pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin.  They taste foul and can be poisonous to fish.   To humans, if eaten, this poison is up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. One puffer can contain enough to kill 30 adults and there is no known antidote.

I believe the spotted ones are a species of Eagle ray.

The fish that are kept are destined for the local markets and restaurants in the area.  

The kept fish were mostly Crevalle Jacks and Mullets.

Big Crevalle Jack

 Rinsing the sand off.

Hauling that big Jack by hand.