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To answer your comment with the picture of Abernethy's Shear Water in another thread, where I was blocked from posting: The boat is in the area that the Force-E map designates as "no scuba diving". So dive there at your own risk if you wish but do not complain about boats.
Not sure why you were blocked from posting on the other thread? But please go back an read the original post, were Abernathy states that fisherman shouldn't be able to use the bridge and should just go fish offshore if at all. So the guy who owns a great big boat arrogantly states fisherman with little or no resources should fish offshore, but on a day where the ocean is flat calm and beautiful he has to park his boat where everybody shore dives, instead of going "offshore" (the irony and hypocrisy are so thick they could be cut with a knife)? As far as the Force-E map designating anything, I did not realize that Force E was in charge of regulating where anybody dives at the bridge, though I recall that same map warns people of fisherman using the bridge and pier. So dive there at your own risk, but do not complain about fisherman. BTW, with few exceptions whenever and wherever you dive isn't it at "your own risk"? I am good with that. I am not good with an arrogant jerk with a boat deciding fisherman can't use an area but he can.
Of course, Force-E can only recommend.
Sorry, but banning fisherman from a bridge is not in the least analogous to banning cars from driving on a sidewalk. BTW, if you recall "no fishing signs" were put up on the east span and then removed. It remains the same today, fishing is allowed from the east span of the bridge. You've been warned, fisherman may being using that bridge when you dive (despite Aberthnathy's best efforts), so be careful.
The symmetry does not work here. When underwater, you hear the boat(s) approaching and any stationary boat can be spotted by looking up before you ascend. So I know how to be careful about the boats. But you can't see the fishermen even if you try, and you pretty much can't do anything against being hooked. So your "be careful (of fishermen)" is just a lip service. Be careful how?
I was not being facetious. Since I started diving BHB 26 years ago, I have always been careful of fisherman, because they have always been there. So maybe I take it for granted that I don't find it difficult to avoid them. I usually dive the west side, before I get in water I make a mental note of where the fisherman are positioned on the pier. The fishing pier on the west side is approximately 100 yards long, and there are nine sets of pilings, so if you are observant you know where they are in relation to the pilings. If you stay directly under the pier its not difficult to peak out and see their fishing lines in the water. A lot times the behavior of the fish is the give away. Its quite comical to see a dozen small fish strip the bait off a hook that is to big for their little mouths. If I do the east side, its the same thing, I look to see where the fisherman are before I get in the water, keep in mind I enter the eastside from the north not the south. I have had my dive flag line cross a fisherman's line many times at BHB. Maybe I have just been lucky but what generally happens in that instance is the fisherman reels in and the hook catches the line. Carefully I just pull the hook away from line and let it go. If you concentrate you can see the fishing lines, just the same way you might find tiny fish like Tiger Gobies by concentrating on what your looking at. I know boats are in the area, and I know damn well that a dive flag is not any guarantee of safety (I had an idiot on jet ski using my flag as a pylon, at another site). So I am always careful of boats, mostly by staying close to the bottom and knowing my relative position underwater from experience and navigation. Common sense says to me that a boat is far more dangerous than any fisherman with a hook. If you truly believe boats are less dangerous for divers than fisherman, be my guest, you do so at your own peril.
