BC HOSE RIPS OFF---No Positive Buoyancy

[Code Monkey]

20 dives, hand me down gear, and a poacher. Time to continue your education and follow the rules. Good Luck.

How does one start scuba diving? Do you skip the whole part where you have under 100 dives?? Does everyone who starts diving have brand new titanium equipment???

I don't think that CaptainNemo is saying that you're bad for being new and using hand-me-down gear. I think he's saying that you're new at this and have some things to learn.

Does no one have an opinion on tropical fish collectors??? Who is doing the environment a worse blow? Me or fish collectors?

There will always be people or institutions that are doing worse things than something we do but that doesn't make our actions right. In an extreme example: just because Pol Pot killed millions of people doesn't mean that Jeffery Dahmer is a great guy. Now, I'm not equating you to Jeffery Dahmer but I did want to make a point, here.

Industries that over-collect or, even worse, illegally collect do, indeed, harm the environment badly. Something else that harms the environment is poaching. It's illegal for a reason and we, as SCUBA divers, are trying to do our part at policing our own. I enjoyed seeing lobsters when I was in Bimini and, because of your actions, I'm less likely to see them in the future. Moreover, my grandkids are less likely to see them.

I guess all we're saying is "please stop taking fish illegally."

 

[TimAZ]

Well said Guthrie.

Reading FSU John's posts, he does't seem like a "bad guy" out to cause trouble. The problem, I think, likely stems from the FSU program. Part of the job of a good instructor is providing information on the culture of the dive community and the responsibilities of divers to the sport and the environment that drew each of us to it. At my local university a 3 unit program consists of 150 minutes of instruction each week for 16 weeks. (I went to the FSU site and credits seem to work similarly). If even half of this time was available It's amazing for the program to fail like this. While having nothing against John personally, I think it was (and is) appropriate for divers to firmly and inflexibly correct a new diver involved in poaching or other destructive activity. While new divers are of course new, we cannot afford for each diver to learn through individual experience the importance of careful habitat management.

OK, Sorry, Done Preaching

 

[drbill]

Hmmm... for those whose only dive experience has been with a BCD, this is an issue. However in the 60's, 70's and up until 1989 I never dove with a BCD and relied on proper weighting, proper conditioning and my swimming ability.

The first time I "used" a BCD (on a dive off Santa Cruz Island with a Cousteau team... it was required equipment), the inflator hose kept autoinflating the BCD. The dive master asked what we should do. I said disconnect it. She said "Can you dive without a BCD?" Sure did.

Of course now I rely on them, but should it fail I also know I can swim to the surface without inflating it... even on my deepest dives. Probably a good idea for newer divers to practice doing this so they are prepared in the event failure occurs.

 

[scubadobadoo]

Well said Guthrie.

Reading FSU John's posts, he does't seem like a "bad guy" out to cause trouble. The problem, I think, likely stems from the FSU program. Part of the job of a good instructor is providing information on the culture of the dive community and the responsibilities of divers to the sport and the environment that drew each of us to it. At my local university a 3 unit program consists of 150 minutes of instruction each week for 16 weeks. (I went to the FSU site and credits seem to work similarly). If even half of this time was available It's amazing for the program to fail like this. While having nothing against John personally, I think it was (and is) appropriate for divers to firmly and inflexibly correct a new diver involved in poaching or other destructive activity. While new divers are of course new, we cannot afford for each diver to learn through individual experience the importance of careful habitat management.

OK, Sorry, Done Preaching

Nothing personal, I type this with a smile.

I agree with you about firmly questioning and correcting his poaching but to say that the FSU program failed is silly. I went to FSU and dive regularly with divers who were trained by the FSU program. NONE OF THEM POACH AND SHOW THE SAME LACK OF DIVING SKILLS. This guy also has his AOW according to his profile. DID his AOW instructor fail too? Of course not. This guy is not very smart, or a troll. Simple. Or the beer he mentioned had something to do with is actions and that just brings me back to NOT VERY SMART. I counted about 10 issues in his original post. Yes, we all make mistakes, but more than 10 in one dive along with beer and poaching????? And with an entire semester of training and his AOW???????????????????? What he does or doesn't do is his business once he leaves the classroom, not his teacher's. Any classroom. Want more evidence that he needs help? The guy admitted that he broke the law in a public forum. Smart huh?

I try my best to help other new divers on this board but sometimes you just gotta wish some people get arrested. That's the only way this guy will learn. Even after being "corrected" this guy still doesn't think that poaching was all that bad and some other divers feel the same way. Too bad really.

I don't want the guy to kill himself and I hope he learns and becomes a great diver and person but I also would like to see him arrested or fined or he poaches again. The only thing that this guy could have added to his original post to make it more insane was if he admitted he also ran a manatee over in the process.:06:

Rant off.

 

[stacey_n_jamie]

what you failed to miss in my post was tyhat most of the local lobster fisherman put out illegal trawls and they dont think that wrong. here in canada we cant even get a recreational 5 trap license for getting a feed now and then, however the local native population can over fish and sell on the black market all they want. never heard of a native using birchbark canoes and birchbark scuba tanks to dive have you? well they are entilted to do it now. perhaps my "poaching" for a feed of 5 lobsters will decimate the lobster population. but the scallop dragging in the same spawning areas, and the extra 100's of traps set illegally by lobstermen wont hurt it will it? i dont feel one bit of remorse or shame in doing what i do. its not like im selling the stuff and by the way thats where you run into poachers for real. last summer here 300 pounds of berried lobsters were found rotting in the sun on a local beach cause some poacher got scared. dumped his load and ran. thats the kind of thing lobstermen get really steamed about pardon the pun.i buy my recreationa;l scallop permit every year. my wife gets hers and daily we are legally allowed to harvest 100 meats each. i do this daily all summer long. get accused of poaching and was checked 5 times in one week by the local warden. he was laughing the 5th time he checked us .im not the problem itsthe other 6 guys that regularly do the poaching of several hundreads of pounds of lobster that are what they are after. in order to catch a theif you have to be one. the fisheries officers leave the office at 5 everyyday and they can sit and watch the poachers go out to tend traps after dark or dive for em. hell i even have a pair of gen 3 night vision goggles i offered to the local fisheries officer to help him out catching these guys. they didnt take me up on my offer but instead asked what i had a piece of equipment like that for. mind you they had some but they were old outdated ones.

 

[scubadobadoo]

what you failed to miss in my post was tyhat .....perhaps my "poaching" for a feed of 5 lobsters will decimate the lobster population....i dont feel one bit of remorse or shame in doing what i do. its not like im selling the stuff ...

What I didn't miss in your posts was you admitting to breaking the law twice now.

Admitting to frequent criminal acts in a public forum doesn't do much for credibility. Good luck with your future law breaking attempts and use extra butter on those lobster for me. It may help you pick the lock on the cell too.:bonk:

 

[TimAZ]

OOMPH!!!


OK, Scubado, I admit I was pretty light on the personal accountability and its possible FSU has a strong program. Still I have to maintain that each of our behaviors is influenced by the approval or disapproval of the wider community. Its just dismaying that 40 hours in the classroom didn't make even enough of a dent to know not to advertise the activity. For example, people who drink and drive are usually at least sufficiently aware of public attitudes not to admit it.

PS: Of course no offense taken and I hope none given.

 

[scubadobadoo]

OOMPH!!!


OK, Scubado, I admit I was pretty light on the personal accountability and its possible FSU has a strong program. Still I have to maintain that each of our behaviors is influenced by the approval or disapproval of the wider community. Its just dismaying that 40 hours in the classroom didn't make even enough of a dent to know not to advertise the activity. For example, people who drink and drive are usually at least sufficiently aware of public attitudes not to admit it.

PS: Of course no offense taken and I hope none given.

You are right too TimAZ. Your post made perfect sense regardless of what I think of the FSU program. Something went terribly wrong somewhere.

I agree. Dismaying is a good word. :06:

 

[ScubaMike14]

You got what you deserved! Perhaps a hungry great white will one day "poach" your @$$.

Mike Rushton

 

[AaronR103]

My certification at FSU was for three credit hours because it is an academic course(pen1136), with 2 hours of class time on Mondays and two hours in the pool per week.

I went to the wrong school. I only got one credit for OW at Emory. Fortunately I made up for it by taking 2 more SCUBA courses, each for an additional credit (that brought my grand total up to 7 PE courses for my 4 years). Dang I miss college.

A