No flagrant disregard here, just the opposite. Since I find it not uncommon for you and others to provide misinformation, I just want to clear things up with a dose of accuracy.
Unlike yourself, most of us feel the Blue Heron Bridge Marine Park is a spectacular resource, that each of us should help to protect....that does NOT mean telling collectors and spearfisherman that there are places "near" BHB they could "get-away with" spearfishing or collecting.
Soap box time..... In fact, divers who don't have a valid Florida Fishing License or possess fishing gear, should take a moment and thank all those who do make such a purchase. Go to google and type in Wallop-Breaux Act or Dingell-Johnson Tax. You will see it those engaged in LEGAL sport fishing activities pay HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS annually in taxes, which go back to preserve the resource. I know of no such tax or fee of any kind, paid by divers to use the resource.
What I see is the majority of the funds raised is directly related to the costs of the fishing lobby removing fish from the ocean, and the reduction of damage caused by fishing and boating. So they really SHOULD BE PAYING !
Divers without fishing licenses, still contribute by supporting dive charter boats, which pay taxes, and by charitable contributions, which are commonly made by divers. Divers tend to be very eco-conscious, and this in no way suggests that fisherman are not.
One of the problems here is that most of us on scubaboard feel that the act of collecting or spearfishing in or near the Blue Heron Bridge Marine Park, is self indulgent, ecologically bad, and in terms of the collective social good, the collecting or spearfishing in or near, is a criminal violation of a public resource that the VAST MAJORITY want protected.
Many of us are not against spearfishing at all. I spearfished practically every time I dove through the 80's and nineties. But I did it far from the crowds of recreational divers who would be hurt by seeing Bambi killed, and I did it in deep water where the fish stocks were huge. Any spearfisherman I have ever dove with, would be embarrassed to even know somone that would spearfish along a public beach or in a shallow marine park area like the BHB. That would be only for the worst spearfisherman, the most cowardly, with the least skills, the least morals, and for people with an absolute contempt for the majority of users that are offended by this activity.
