We are now going to concentrate on tagging male sharks and tuna. When longlining, we don't have much control over what we catch. Changing location, the time of day that we set and retrieve, and changing the depth that the hooks fish can target or exclude different species to some extent. We set the longline at night so that we don't catch seabirds as the hooks go out. At Cross Seamount we will handline during the day and longline at night.
Handline fishing is done with the ship drifting with the wind and currents.
We throw chum out to lure the fish in and throw hand held fishing lines in the water. Chum is chopped up bait that spreads the scent or flavor of food out into the surrounding water in an attempt to lure fish and start a feeding frenzy. Hand caught fish are usually more lively and therefore better for tagging.