Shit in the harbour

It seemed appropriate to photograph some shit in the harbour and share it on Hive and this post is where I've decided to do that. The shit I've photographed is tuna boats and the harbour is that of Port Lincoln, South Australia, the tuna capital of Australia.

For those hoping to see brownish logs of shit floating around in the harbour I'm afraid you'll leave this post unsatisfied and for those expecting to see shit photos of shit in the harbour you'll leave satisfied because these photos depict some shit, tuna boats, in the harbour and the photos are shit hence why they're posted in this community.

Around the 1940's the sheer mass of southern bluefin tuna in the waters off Port Lincoln raised eyebrows and a government study was conducted to look into the economic viability of harvesting them commercially. Post war (WWII), a bunch of immigrants to the country (ex-Europe) realised the potential and inside of ten years had hauled in about 8,000 tons of the fish using poles and lines. That's a lot of hard work and impressive numbers.

As humans tend to do, they wanted more and more revenue so fishing methods changed and by 1982 southern bluefin tuna stocks had been over-fished and measures needed to be taken to protect the species; quotas were policed.

The risk to the species and subsequent quotas meant new ways had to be found if the substantial revenues were to be maintained and that's when tuna farming came into being, it's called purse seine fishing.

It basically limits the number of net-caught tuna and leaves others to roam free. The netted catch is towed to Port Lincoln and fed (sardines) which allows them to grow larger and more marketable and to be harvested when in their prime; there's massive rings of netted "farms" dotted around the place, their construction an industry in itself - it's really quite something to see. It resulted in the tuna fishers harvests increasing dramatically, and the industry to continue sustainably and very lucratively.

The tuna fishing industry in Port Lincoln is a multi-million dollar industry (over 90% of Australia's tuna fishing licenses are registered in Port Lincoln) and most of the tuna fishers are millionaires with some being worth over $250m each, the top four; that's unsurprising when Japan pours some $250 million of revenue through tuna sales into Port Lincoln each year. The town is small, only some 17,000 residents (more when the tourists turn up) so has a very high number of millionaires per capita and all through fishing for tuna, abalone and oyster farming.

I was in Port Lincoln a while back and enjoyed the experience; I was camping and spending time in some of the surrounding areas such as Coffin Bay (famous for oysters) and Lincoln National Park which is a stunning location; you'll need a four wheel drive and some skills like mine if you want to see the best parts though. It's a great spot however even though the photos I have here look shit.