tMo
By Tom Modugno of Goleta Surfing
Harry Graham was a local surfer and fisherman. I only briefly got to know him near the end of his life. We did a page together about surfing and his friend Tom Linker, but he also gave me a bunch of photos of his commercial fishing days.
Unfortunately, he passed away before I got much info on these. So I asked a few friends, a got a little info, and found some info in my notes. I think these are mostly from the early 80s. So here are some historic photos of some legendary characters doing their thing in an earlier time.
Harry enjoying his morning coffee and stretching out his sea legs.
Harry mentioned they were using gill nets at the time. These are outlawed now but he said he made a decent living using them for a while. Here he is mending some nets I assume. Note the lobster traps behind him.
He gave me lots of photos of big hauls, proving the efficiency of those nets. It appears he fished for lots of different types of fish. Here’s Harry with some Black Cod.
Harry labeled this shot “Setting the Gear.” I assume he’s referring to the nets. Looks like more Black Cod on the left.
Wow, look at all that halibut! He said he got all these just outside Saint Augustine’s… if you know where that is. Fresh seafood dinners would be one perk of this line of work.
Harry and Jimmy Finch cleaning out some of those halibut on the way back in.
Now how about some Ling Cod? Harry with a beast that has another fish hanging out of its mouth.
Read the rest of the article at GoletaSurfing.com
Gill nets have not been completely banned, unfortunately. They are still allowed outside the 3 mile zone and 1 mile from the Islands, and still kill many marine mammals, giant sea bass, and other animals. They target swordfish and sharks with drift gillnets, which are being phased out, and halibut, white seabass etc with smaller mesh gillnets.
This guy took out a lot of young halibut and many large fish that would provide for generations of fish. Gill nets are indiscriminate and often have illegal by catch. There are better ways for a sustainable fishery and I’m glad that the “rules” have changed so that future generations will also be able to enjoy a local fish dinner once in a while, other than having our local ocean completely fished out.
Great story about a local fisherman. why we went into nets discussions I dont know.