Diving and Fishing

[Hank49]

I've kind of gone the other way. I always fished...from Ohio to the Philippines and back to Belize.
But I went from diving and not fishing much back to not scuba diving much (except to free an anchor or get a fish out of a hole that's too deep to free dive to).
Now I free dive almost all the time and spearfish.

 

[Mike Boswell]

I used to spearfish and always ate what I caught. Now I dive just to look.

There are just too many people chasing fewer and fewer fish. Most fishermen don't want to give up fishing, even though they know most fish stocks are declining. Humans have a history of hunting species to extinction. It's crazy, and I don't know where it will all end.

 

[vinegarbiscuit]

I used to spearfish and always ate what I caught. Now I dive just to look.

There are just too many people chasing fewer and fewer fish. Most fishermen don't want to give up fishing, even though they know most fish stocks are declining. Humans have a history of hunting species to extinction. It's crazy, and I don't know where it will all end.

What, you mean like falling shark populations prompting folk to look for manta and devil rays to help meet the voracious demand for shark fin soup?

Manta rays next on restaurant menus as shark populations plummet - Times Online

Funky to think that a freediving spearfisherman that abides by sound rules and regulations (governing what can and can't be taken) actually practices the most sustainable type of fishing there is. If he/she catches only what they want to eat, one has to admit it's damn sight less damaging than a lot of current commercial fishing practices, like long-lining. Sad thing is, is that those rules and regs aren't in place all over the world, and even if they are, there's not enough manpower to enforce them. I was shocked to learn about the lack of provisions here in Hawaii, for example, from everything governing spearfishing to fish collection. I know folks have to make a living, and that people worry about eating and paying their bills NOW rather than in 20-years, but that shouldn't stop us from asking ourselves what we'll do when the sea refuses to sustain us anymore.