I have to agree about the eel, but would add that it's terrible form to publicize the molestation. DD may be a PH.D. in marine biology and specialized in handling marine life...that doesn't make it ok to post a video of him picking up every creature he runs across on a public dive forum just because it caused no harm to the creature. His poor form speaks volume to his character...he may have taught his son good diving skills, but that doesn't necessarily translate to him being a good person. Michael Vick was a good quarterback...just sayin.
Maybe we look at this from another perspective....the THREAT perspective....If we look at who represents the biggest threats to marine life, and who represents the positive forces to raise awareness and potentially reduce threats to marine life....I'd be making a list like..
Threat list:
- Commercial fishing by net or long line or other mass harvesting technique
- sharkfinners everywhere...and remember that an ecosystem has it's HEALTH most effected by the health of the apex predators....decimating a species like snapper or hogfish, is not remotely as dangerous to the marine ecosystem as is decimating the Shark population, which will end up allowing the entire natural balance to disintegrate.
- City Sewage and Agricultural run-off being streamed out of the intercoastal into the ocean
- At a virtual Petting Zoo which has become a primary Dive Destination for dive tourists from all over the world( BHB Marine Park), Collectors actually represent a severe threat as they will attempt to remove many of the creatures at this wild Zoo, that people have traveled so far to see.....Worse still, many collectors claim legal right to do so, and maintain an attitude of Righteous indignation that we would suggest they should not remove the rare creatures so many people have traveled to see.
- Private boaters anchoring on our coral reefs, doing severe damage to the reefs.
Against this list of severe threats, Dumpster does more to increase visibility of beautiful marine life, and to increase awareness of the marine ecosystem, than most divers do...Even though he purposely pulls the chain of many of us, due to "what passes for his sense of humour"
, he does far more good with this increased awareness he creates, than any potential harm that can be ATTRIBUTED TO HIM.
In other words, we have real threats most of us ignore every day....threats we really cant afford to ignore. Ranting about DD.... is like a homeowner screaming at a neighbor that just let it's dog pee on his lawn.... while only 20 feet away from him, there is a city sewage pipe, dumping sewage onto his lawn, a ton per hour. And the homeowner ignores the sewage leak, like it is not even happening.... Most on this board that rant at DD....are very much like the homeowner....Now if any of you have made a dent in commercial fishing, and shark finning, and city sewage, etc....then you might honestly be able to make some suggestions to DD about what is good or bad about what he is doing. If he is doing more good than you are, probably it is not right to say much against his behavior
Some of his stuff does annoy me, he likes to pull your chain...that's who he is. But I would rather have him with us here, than to not have him around.....that is something we obviously would not say for the items on the threat list.
