Global Warming

Oh Boy! Where do I start? Global warming...ummm, let's see....well...for starters, its 9 degrees this morning. NINE! Does anything about that number imply warmth? I didn't think so either. O.K. That's a start. (an 'icebreaker', if you will) Alright,as if 9 degs. wasn't bad enough, I just looked at the wind chill off shore. It's a few degrees below zero! And I told my sternman we would haul today. "GREAT!" Lucky for us there isn't going to be much wind today.

Don't get me wrong here, I am a democrat,(at least most of the time) but,...where's Al Gore NOW? I'd like to see him over ten miles offshore with us in awhile.
"Well Al, how's that 'global warming' theory of yours looking right about now?!" - "OH, by the way Al,..that "snotsickle" you've got going on there is gettin kinda long!"

I know, there are definitely changes going on in the climate. I've seen a lot of the shows, and hearings, and yes even his movie, An Inconvenient Truth. And yes it can be alarming at 9;00 o'clock at night, with the thermostat on 70 something, with a blanket over you and a bowl of hot popcorn in your lap. But, not out here. Well offshore, at the end of February, with 4 - 8 inch icicles(saltwater, mind you) hanging off the roof of the boat.

I have an idea what some of you are thinking, because I've thought it too, sometimes. "You could be doing something else, that does not require you to be out on the North Atlantic at the end of February, on a 9 degree day!" (but trust me, please, if you were a Maine lobsterfisherman, born and bred, you'd be out there too!) The thing is, that no matter how bad the outcome sounds from these "global warming" reports, most of us,(at least way up here in the northern parts of the Northern hemisphere, anyway!), actually look forward to warmer, well..., milder winters. 50s would be fine with me!

Alright, I may be just a fisherman, but I'm not dumb. I know that the temperature changes are very subtle. But we can be optimistic can't we?

What are your thoughts on global warming? I would like to hear them. Please feel free to leave a post.

Do you want to learn more about how most of us fishermen stay up to date on the weather? Keep watch for my weather post coming soon.