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Hi, Peter - I used to harvest geoduck (pron.: gooey-duck) clams out here in
the Straight of Georgia. They're basically horse-sized penis-shaped
clams that nail you in the side of the head with
seawater while you're busy tending your other divers. Asian
market. Rubbery if you don't cook'em just right.
The other fun creature was sea urchins for their roe. Again, asian
market. The spines are much shorter and more blunt than the Floridian
variety (ask me how I know) It took years for the Floridian spines
to finally dissolve into my flesh.
Abalone is another money producer. Delicious!!! Mind you, so is
fresh sea urchin roe right out of the animal. We used to hand feed wolf
eels with the roe. Kewl. Bizarre, but true, is what happens when you
skewer a sea urchin u/w (my God, I can't believe I used to be a
vegetarian liberal). Other urchins in the immediate area will boogie
on out of there. I don't know what the communication mechanism
consists of - a scream, a squeal, a thought wave, a fear hormone? It seems
to occur regardless of the direction of the current. It could be
a form of broadband SOS. Not quite as loud as a parrot fish,
but, somewhere in there. Wonder if it would turn up on a hydrophone.
Back to psubs: Harvesting with subs would be wonderful if [a] they
were wet [b] they were cheap to buy or build [c] easily transportable [d]
equipped with hookah for excursions [e] fast [f] had good range [g] had good
visibility.
Actually, harvesting wouldn't be the best task for a
sub. A psub would be excellent for recon once you narrow down the field on
a nautical chart. Geoducks are buried in open sandy bottoms, sea
urchins are found out in the open and are ambulatory - much more visible,
too. Abalone I know little about. Harvesting occurs up and down the
wet coast pretty much from California, through Canada and up into Alaska.
Recon diver in the front, pilot elevated in the rear with a
compass, a stopwatch and a knot meter.
Oh, BTW, Alaskan King Crab is another delicacy out here. I'd want to
torpedo those - they scare the hell out of me. I've dived with sharks,
barracuda, sea lions, wolf eels, octopi, yadda yadda. But, those King
Crabs just do it to me. Where's Sigourney Weaver when I need her?
I'd pee in my dry suit.
As far as inversion . . . stick with gel cells. If you
like lead-acid, use the proper oil for the batt. but don't invert without
getting some high quality info first. Call up the manufacturer to be
sure. Do a Google on it.
Rick Lucertini
Vancouver, Canada
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