Cuke Diving

[Diver_Dave]

Just bought a permit this year to fish cucumbers and today was the first day of the opener...Today we baged 2,800lbs of cut cukes w/two divers..Bags get real heavy after a while 5' long and when the bag is full its 4' wide draging over everything but @ 2.35 a lb its a hooot...All the divers laffed @ me the other day for using tanks instead of hooka...The opening is from 8am till 3 mon....then 8am till 12 on tues. till the quota is caught in the area..Getting back to tanks I only used 3 tanks all day 1 steel 108 and 2 steel 95s...All I can say is easy money...........

[Diver_Dave]

we r allowed 2,000lbs per diver per opening... we bagged 3,058lbs thats 3,475 cucumbers per diver...Look @ it this way a dollar a cuke :smt038

[Chris]

Uhh... what do people fish cukes for?

[Burntchef]

shipped overseas to japanand china is my guess. ive seen it on some menus around here. its pretty stuff. same sort of texture as jellyfish.

[Seth T.]

Yuck. I can't imagine eating one of those suckers! My favorite sushi restaurant serves jellyfish, but I just haven't had the balls to try it.

[spatman]

Yuck. I can't imagine eating one of those suckers! My favorite sushi restaurant serves jellyfish...

if you can get past the jellyfish's weird texture, it's actually quite boring. tastes a bit like seawater.

[Seth T.]

if you can get past the jellyfish's weird texture, it's actually quite boring. tastes a bit like seawater.

Exactly. I just can't imagine a clear gelatinous mass tasting like anything!

[Sea of Green]

An Asian delicacy that most of us have a hard time fathoming:

http://www.itmonline.org/arts/seacucumber.htm

http://www.asian-recipes.com/microwave- ... cumber.php

But, I have to admit, at $1 per cuke, I would be out there gathering them too.

I originally included this About.com article, and although it's informative, it has a link to a recipe that includes SHARK FIN! I sent a nasty-gram to the editor. Here's a link if you want to do likewise:

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/shoping ... cumber.htm

[Seth T.]

Now that's just f$*#@ NASTY!

[scottsax]

Interesting.....

I don't typically think of the microwave as a braising oven. It's a nacho-maker for me....



In my experience, most seafood requires gentle preparation, not nuking. Makes me want to try it next time I'm out for sushi. It's probably expensive, guess I'll just have to increase my monthly sushi allowance!

mmmmm.......sushi.......

[Diver_Dave]

Uhh... what do people fish cukes for?

Money cash currency k it pays if u get in them and know where to look for them.....

[Sea of Green]

Just bought a permit this year to fish cucumbers and today was the first day of the opener...Today we baged 2,800lbs of cut cukes w/two divers..Bags get real heavy after a while 5' long and when the bag is full its 4' wide draging over everything but @ 2.35 a lb its a hooot...All the divers laffed @ me the other day for using tanks instead of hooka...The opening is from 8am till 3 mon....then 8am till 12 on tues. till the quota is caught in the area..Getting back to tanks I only used 3 tanks all day 1 steel 108 and 2 steel 95s...All I can say is easy money...........
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we r allowed 2,000lbs per diver per opening... we bagged 3,058lbs thats 3,475 cucumbers per diver...Look @ it this way a dollar a cuke :smt038

Ok, let's do some math. I don't know how deep you were, but cukes around here can be found in relatively shallow depths. I can get maybe an hour out of a 95-102cu ft tank. You used 3 tanks, so that's 3 hrs of gathering cukes. You gathered 3,475 cukes per diver, at $1 per cuke. That translates into $1,158.33 per hour. Minus the cost of the air fills, ($30 for 3 fills at the most for EAN), and the cost of the permit (?). When's the next season?

[Nwbrewer]

if you can get past the jellyfish's weird texture, it's actually quite boring. tastes a bit like seawater.

Exactly. I just can't imagine a clear gelatinous mass tasting like anything!

Are you guys telling me this doesn't look tasty?

[Sounder]

That looks painful!

[spatman]

Are you guys telling me this doesn't look tasty?

nah, with little sesame seeds and chilis, sliced up and tossed with some oil...

mmm mmm mmm!

<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/167/4041 ... 30b501.jpg">

[Diver_Dave]

Just bought a permit this year to fish cucumbers and today was the first day of the opener...Today we baged 2,800lbs of cut cukes w/two divers..Bags get real heavy after a while 5' long and when the bag is full its 4' wide draging over everything but @ 2.35 a lb its a hooot...All the divers laffed @ me the other day for using tanks instead of hooka...The opening is from 8am till 3 mon....then 8am till 12 on tues. till the quota is caught in the area..Getting back to tanks I only used 3 tanks all day 1 steel 108 and 2 steel 95s...All I can say is easy money...........
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
we r allowed 2,000lbs per diver per opening... we bagged 3,058lbs thats 3,475 cucumbers per diver...Look @ it this way a dollar a cuke :smt038

Ok, let's do some math. I don't know how deep you were, but cukes around here can be found in relatively shallow depths. I can get maybe an hour out of a 95-102cu ft tank. You used 3 tanks, so that's 3 hrs of gathering cukes. You gathered 3,475 cukes per diver, at $1 per cuke. That translates into $1,158.33 per hour. Minus the cost of the air fills, ($30 for 3 fills at the most for EAN), and the cost of the permit (?). When's the next season?

diving cukes u have to stay under 60ft thats the law..I got over 2 hrs on my lp steel 108 pumped to 3500..Air is free have my own compresser..cost for a permit is 9k this season just started that was the 1st opening.. should be open till x-mass..Allways opens oct 1st

[Sea of Green]

Just bought a permit this year to fish cucumbers and today was the first day of the opener...Today we baged 2,800lbs of cut cukes w/two divers..Bags get real heavy after a while 5' long and when the bag is full its 4' wide draging over everything but @ 2.35 a lb its a hooot...All the divers laffed @ me the other day for using tanks instead of hooka...The opening is from 8am till 3 mon....then 8am till 12 on tues. till the quota is caught in the area..Getting back to tanks I only used 3 tanks all day 1 steel 108 and 2 steel 95s...All I can say is easy money...........
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
we r allowed 2,000lbs per diver per opening... we bagged 3,058lbs thats 3,475 cucumbers per diver...Look @ it this way a dollar a cuke :smt038

Ok, let's do some math. I don't know how deep you were, but cukes around here can be found in relatively shallow depths. I can get maybe an hour out of a 95-102cu ft tank. You used 3 tanks, so that's 3 hrs of gathering cukes. You gathered 3,475 cukes per diver, at $1 per cuke. That translates into $1,158.33 per hour. Minus the cost of the air fills, ($30 for 3 fills at the most for EAN), and the cost of the permit (?). When's the next season?

diving cukes u have to stay under 60ft thats the law..I got over 2 hrs on my lp steel 108 pumped to 3500..Air is free have my own compresser..cost for a permit is 9k this season just started that was the 1st opening.. should be open till x-mass..Allways opens oct 1st

9k?! As in $9,000?! Is that a typo?

[Diver_Dave]

nope 9k can get u a permit..Then all u need is a good setup boat a tender and good dive eqp.People think im crazy for using tanks they say u don't get the bottom time u need..lol The u have to know where to fish them worms and where they live...U limit out its like almost 5k but thats hard to do but there out there
http://www.permitmaster.com/permits2.htm

[Diver_Dave]

Openings r every mon and tue of every week till the quota is caught...
1,384,300 lb quota...............................

[Sea of Green]

nope 9k can get u a permit..Then all u need is a good setup boat a tender and good dive eqp.People think im crazy for using tanks they say u don't get the bottom time u need..lol The u have to know where to fish them worms and where they live...U limit out its like almost 5k but thats hard to do but there out there
http://www.permitmaster.com/permits2.htm

Oh, you're talking about COMMERCIAL fishing, not average joe diver going out with goodie bag in hand and gathering up some cukes.

[Diver_Dave]

The only drawback is the weather Oct-Dec. can be very bad....yes COMMERCIAL diving for cukes...Last week was my 1st opening and im just an avj .Joe diver..Its allways a challange to get 4,000 cukes per diver per opening..I have to get a pic. of the gooddie bags we use its 5' long x 4' wide when it gets full...Oh ya there very heavy too between 400-600lbs
The two days a week u fish from 8am-3pm mon.. then its closed till the next day @ 8am-12noon..Its a hoot all new diving area I have never dove before and places u will never come back to....

[Sea of Green]

The only drawback is the weather Oct-Dec. can be very bad....yes COMMERCIAL diving for cukes...Last week was my 1st opening and im just an avj .Joe diver..Its allways a challange to get 4,000 cukes per diver per opening..I have to get a pic. of the gooddie bags we use its 5' long x 4' wide when it gets full...Oh ya there very heavy too between 400-600lbs
The two days a week u fish from 8am-3pm mon.. then its closed till the next day @ 8am-12noon..Its a hoot all new diving area I have never dove before and places u will never come back to....

What I don't understand is how you make any money at it. At $1 per cuke, you would have to really work your ass off just to make up for the $9k you shelled out for the license. (I'm assuming it's an annual license, doesn't say on the link, and that you're working alone other than surface support). Who do you sell these to?

[CaptnJack]

The 9K permit doesn't make it seem so attractive anymore eh? I imagine that's a onetime fee but Dave will have to chime in about that. The bigger question is if can you resell/transfer the permit when you want out of the biz?

[Diver_Dave]

1st u r allowed 2000lbs thats like 4000 cucumbers got to get down there and pick like hell get every one brothers sister ants uncles even friends take them all don't leave anyone behind....when u find the right spot u can fill a bag in 20mins 600 bucks I picked over 3400 last opening check was allmost 3,500 dollars from sitka sound seafoods could be as many as 11 openings :rr: :rr: :rr:

[Diver_Dave]

Back from another cuke trip didn't do as good as last week...1,300lbs a diver for this trip....Still thats about 3k a week not bad..not bad I can do better......