Carrying a pointer stick

[davehicks]

Now we're getting somewhere.

There are some places that just outright banned divers. Look at Guadalupe and the banning of the Great White Shark liveaboards. Cozumel is rotating some of the dive sites out of use so they can recover from over diving abuse.

 

[Kendall Raine]

There are some places that just outright banned divers. Look at Guadalupe and the banning of the Great White Shark liveaboards. Cozumel is rotating some of the dive sites out of use so they can recover from over diving abuse.

So true.

Two issues; distinct but linked. Competence and crowds. Topic @Waterwulf was getting at is competence. A tool in the hands of a tool can be a problem, whether that be guns, cars, chain saws or pointer sticks. No argument. Banning the tool wink is one option. The other is training/enforcement. Banning is often the easier/preferred method, but are we banning the right tool (kinda the NRA argument)?

As for crowds, periodic cessation of diving may be the wave of the future (look how beneficial Covid was for reef restoration-except, for example, when of the pandemic means collapse of dynamite fishing enforcement-e.g. Raja-or shark fining enforcement-Cocos, etc. Another problem is any non-pandemic (global) driven diving cessation shifts the crowd burden onto other/adjacent locations so are we really accomplishing anything? It depends, doesn't it-MPAs seem to work. Then there is the question of whether divers are the major problem or simply the whipping boy for pollution/poor resource stewardship by government, commercial fishing or other. Not sure if that is the issue at Guadalupe but could be.

Multi-focal and complex.

 

[ShallowSeasGallery]

These are used extensively by photographers at Blue Heron Bridge, a very densely used and totally artificial environment. I have been independently described as having zen grandmaster buoyancy, but I still carry one that had a bolt snap on one side clipped to my harness' right hip D ring, I then tuck the stick behind the webbing and It doesn't dangle or move. Now that I can pivot blindfolded with a 38 lb camera rig held strait out around a seahorse in 4 feet of water without touching the bottom or surface, I dont deploy it as often, but its a great nudi spotting tool.

 

[mcohen1021]

Cozumel is rotating some of the dive sites out of use so they can recover from over diving abuse.

Maybe if it took longer than 3 days to get certified, diver level and competence would be slightly higher

I got away from working classes long ago but I wonder if anybody teaches their new divers not to use their freaking arms while diving

 

[rongoodman]

There's currently another thread going in which the OP is talking about becoming a DM when he hasn't even gotten his OW certification yet, and they're all too common. I remember being quite surprised to see a DM with a working back kick on a trip earlier this summer.

 

[blue steal]

Going against the grain here on the use of “pointer sticks”.
Every morning when I’m in the Philippines doing my first dive I always bring my pointer stick and my net to collect trash, small plastics, fishing line, and anything else that is caught in the corals.
Can’t get to it by using my hands without breaking corals but using the pointer I’m able to remove it carefully without causing any damage.
Over the years I have removed and cleaned up several house reefs and gotten 100’s of pounds of trash without damaging any corrals.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

These are used extensively by photographers at Blue Heron Bridge, a very densely used and totally artificial environment. I have been independently described as having zen grandmaster buoyancy, but I still carry one that had a bolt snap on one side clipped to my harness' right hip D ring, I then tuck the stick behind the webbing and It doesn't dangle or move. Now that I can pivot blindfolded with a 38 lb camera rig held strait out around a seahorse in 4 feet of water without touching the bottom or surface, I dont deploy it as often, but its a great nudi spotting tool.

Yep. Good buoyancy here too.. and yet, I will carry a muck stick. Great for finding nudis.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

I carry an extra large muck stick...... its called a spear gun and is excellent for pointing out ling cod, cabezon and kelp greenlings....all without any damage to reefs.

 

[NothingClever]

I have been independently described as having zen grandmaster buoyancy

LoL…call me Negative Ned but that sentence had the opposite effect of the one you intended.

 

[NothingClever]

I’m trying really hard but I’m having trouble getting worked up over a pointer stick.

For me, how it’s used is determinative.

Making up for poor skills = bad.

Augmenting good skills = fine by me.

If we need to spice up this thread into a proper ScubaBoard argument, we could discuss the ethical implications of the muck stick that has the little ringy-dingy thing in the handle. That ought to draw some fire.