Tag Archives: fishing

U.S.

Biden’s Borderland: End of Year Boat People Captures, Florida & Texas

Video

Welcome to borderland hell under U.S. President Joseph Robinette Biden Junior, incomplete (just the tip of the iceberg) list of videos and reports from the United States Coast Guard (USCG) about the increasing flood of boat people from Bahamas, Cuba, and Haiti, and the increasing illegal fishing operations by Mexico, for December 2022:

FLORIDA: The USCG captured a boat full of illegals, about 15 miles south of Marathon, on 05DEC2022. Video by Petty Officer First Class Dustin Williams:

USCG District 7 photo, 07DEC2022.

About 20 miles southwest of Marquesas Key, on 07DEC2022 the USCG captured this boat full of illegals.  On 10DEC2022, a total of 152 illegals were sent back to Cuba.

The USCG District 7 reports repatriating 71 people to Cuba, on 08DEC2022.

On 12DEC2022, about 50 miles south of Cudjoe Key, the USCG captured a boat that was overloaded with 110 illegals from Haiti.  They were sent back to Haiti on 20DEC2022. Video by Senior Chief Petty Officer Brodie MacDonald:

Another capture on 12DEC2022, this time about 20 miles south of Woman Key.  The illegals from this capture were sent back to Cuba on 16DEC2022, along with more than 160 other illegals. Video by Petty Officer First Class Dustin Williams:

The USCG District 7 reports repatriating 162 people to Cuba, on 14DEC2022.

On 14DEC2022, the Little Haiti Cultural Center celebrated 50 years of illegal Boat People operations to Florida:

17DEC2022, USCG captures illegals from Cuba, 10 miles south of Marquesas Key.  They were returned to Cuba on 20DEC2022. USCG District 7 video:

The USCG District 7 reports repatriating 82 people to Cuba, on 18DEC2022.

USCG District 7 photo, 19DEC2022.

19DEC2022, about 50 miles south of Marathon, the USCG picked up illegals from Cuba, they were included with the total of 67 illegals sent back to Cuba on 22DEC2022.

USCG photo by Petty Officer Third Class Ryan Estrada, 22DEC2022.

Illegals asking for help, near Boca Raton, 22DEC2022.  Along with illegals captured the day before (21DEC2022), a total of 143 illegals were sent back to Cuba on 27DEC2022.

USCG District 7 photo, 23DEC2022.

Boat-people captured near Sands Key, 23DEC2022.  They became part of 82 illegals sent back to Cuba on 28DEC2022.

USCG District 7 photo, 23DEC2022.

This boat was captured near Elbow Cay, on 23DEC2022, the occupants were sent back to Cuba on 28DEC2022.

USCG District 7 photo, 30DEC2022.

One of the last boat-people captures of the year, about 31 miles south of Upper Matecumbe Key, 30DEC2022.  These illegals became part of a group of 71 sent back to Cuba on 03JAN2023.

TEXAS: USCG District 8 video, Mexicans fishing illegally off the coast of Texas try to escape capture, 09DEC2022:

USCG District 8 photo, 09DEC2022.

USCG District 8 reports they captured a total of two boats with 600 pounds of illegally fished red snapper on 09DEC2022.  Eight Mexicans were also captured.

USCG District 8 video, more Mexicans fishing illegally off the coast of Texas try to escape capture, 29DEC2022:

USCG District 8 photo, 29DEC2022.

Apparently 29DEC2022 was a busy day for the USCG, 22 illegal fishermen from Mexico were captured, along with 590 pounds of red snapper.  The fishermen were handed over to Customs and Border Protection.

Biden’s Borderland, November 2022: HOW MUCH DO THOSE ‘BOAT PEOPLE’ COST THE U.S. TAXPAYERS? HINT; YOU COULD END HOMELESSNESS IN THE U.S.!

International, Kit Bashing

Cold War Boats: Revell’s Spy Trawler is for reals! Or, who told the Soviets about Exercise Teamwork?

Video

A Soviet fishing trawler alongside its ‘mother ship’, U.S. Coast Guard photo, August 1963.

In 1964, NATO navies conducted Exercise Teamwork.  This is interesting because non-military interweb sites (like the wiki-web-sites) claim NATO’s biennial (every other year) Exercise Teamwork didn’t begin until 1982!   The proof that Exercise Teamwork actually started in 1964 comes from the declassification of a once secret NATO document.  That document was a letter of concern regarding how the Soviet Union found out about the wargame, and sent several ‘spy’ fishing trawlers to shadow the NATO navies.

The NATO letter blames it on the main stream U.S. news media, specifically Time magazine, for publishing statements made during a U.S. trial of a spy. But then, there was a journalist working for Time, who was onboard the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVA-62) during the wargames, who claimed that somebody in NATO tipped-off the Soviets!

Apparently, NATO’s first Exercise Teamwork, off the coast of NATO Norway, was a diversion from an established NATO wargame called FALLEX (Fall [as in Autumn] Exercise).   A once secret NATO letter discussing FALLEX 62 suggested making changes for the upcoming FALLEX 64.  Apparently, FALLEX 64 became Exercise Teamwork 64, possibly because of what was publicized about the trial of a spy in the United States.

U.S. Navy film, dated 1964 and titled Exercise Teamwork, showing ‘Russian Spy Fishing Trawler’. The smoke stack on this ship is  different than the Revell kit’s stack:

But 1969 is the year the U.S. Navy really took an interest in all the Soviet fishing trawlers hanging around NATO navies, and even off the coast of the United States.

USN film, February 1969, showing Soviet ‘spy’ fishing trawlers operating off the coast of the U.S. state of Virginia, at least three different ships according to the USN info:

On 09APR1969, the USN spied on Soviet Mediterranean fleet operations, near the Rock of Gibraltar, and interestingly among all those big Soviet warships was a lone Soviet fishing trawler (you can see it as the camera pans from warship to warship), I edited for just the trawler scenes:

A May 1969 USN film documenting what was believed to be various Soviet surveillance ships, showing a similar ‘spy trawler’, with a different stack, location not indicated:

Now you know where the tech term phishing originated, Cold War era spy fishing boats, fishing for your country’s military info.

In 1970, model kit company Revell issued its Russian Spy Fishing Trawler Volga. Revell’s spy ship kit seems to combine attributes of all the trawlers seen in the USN films.

Is this the trawler the Revell kit is based on? Image taken from USN film dated February 1969.

NATO called this a Okean class intelligence collection ship. USN photo by Photographer’s Mate First Class Jeff Hilton, August 1986.

NATO called this a Moma class intelligence collection ship. USN photo by Photographer’s Mate First Class Jeff Hilton, August 1986.

The kit is continuously re-issued, but in 1998 the name was changed to Northsea Fishing Trawler.

Cold War & Beyond: LIFE AND VIOLENT DEATH OF USS TUSCALOOSA

LIFE & VIOLENT DEATH OF USS RODNEY M. DAVIS

MOSKVA CLASS SUBMARINE HUNTERS, STOP CALLING THEM AIRCRAFT CARRIERS!

 

Business/Economics, International

One Year Later: Abandoned Japanese fishing boat makes it way back home

A ghostly reminder of the March 11, 2011, Mega Quake and tsunami that hit north eastern Honshu, Japan, made its way back home.

The boat belonged to a fisherman from Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture.  Otsuchi is one of the coastal towns devastated by the tsunami.  The fisherman did not survive the monster tidal surge, but his boat amazingly did.

Nearly one year after the disaster the ravaged boat was found drifting, more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) away, on the other side of Japan, in the Sea of Japan (aka East Sea).  It was returned to the fisherman’s son, who lives in Kamaishi City.

The son said he intends to repair the boat and go fishing.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Idaho Wells Fargo customers hit by scam

East Idahoans are being hit with a phone scam.  Someone claiming to be with Wells Fargo is telling them their “card is locked” and they need to give their card info over the phone to unlock it.

Local Wells Fargo officials say it’s called a “fishing” scam, and that you should deal directly with your local bank if there’s a possible problem with your card.