disturbing sight in the Gulf of Mexico

[rachel0]

Yesterday, Sun 9/12 was my first saltwater dive. Went to some oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, about 2 hours south of Galveston TX. (It was great, I'm hooked on diving).

There was one really bad thing. On the way tp our first rig, we stopped to "talk" to a shrimp boat that had many dolphins frolicking around it. Then we saw the boat hauling a dolphin in their net. Then they beat the dolphin. Is this a common occurence?

I'm thoroughly sickened and can't stop thinking about it.
What can I can do about this?

 

[suthnbelle]

Yesterday, Sun 9/12 was my first saltwater dive. Went to some oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, about 2 hours south of Galveston TX. (It was great, I'm hooked on diving).

There was one really bad thing. On the way tp our first rig, we stopped to "talk" to a shrimp boat that had many dolphins frolicking around it. Then we saw the boat hauling a dolphin in their net. Then they beat the dolphin. Is this a common occurence?

I'm thoroughly sickened and can't stop thinking about it.
What can I can do about this?

OMG! What did the other people on your boat do or say? Gosh that is just awful. I wouldn't have been able to keep my mouth shut.

Mel

 

[rachel0]

OMG! What did the other people on your boat do or say? Gosh that is just awful. I wouldn't have been able to keep my mouth shut.

Mel

The captain was upset, he said he's having trouble getting the Coast Guard to do anything. They apparently keep asking for video. One of other divers might have still pics, offered to email them to me so I can report. Which I will do, but nobody wanted to call/email/do anything themselves and that's upsetting. They were disgusted but I had the distinct feeling they didn't want to get invovled and wanted to forget about it and go on with their fun day and own lives.

I hate to be preachy, but (here I go) if we don't already have a duty to marine creatures by simply virtue of living on this planet, we definitely have one by diving in their habitat. We come to see them, sometimes mess up their environment by our presence (although we do a wonderful job of that just staying on land), want to photograph them then don't we have a duty to protect them?

 

[busraider1]

Obvioulsy those actions of the fishing boat are illegal, people need to take the responsibility of reporting animal abuse, to the proper authorities.. I hope u get pictures, and take the necessary actions. I really doubt that this is a once in a lifetime occurence... People need to be held accountable for these actions.

 

[redacted]

Are you talking about a 200 pound dolphin that was tangled in the shrimp net and thrashing about unable to escape? If so, what do you think the shrimp boat should have done? I'm having a hard time imagining a shrimp boat intentionally capturing and beating a dolphin just for the fun of it. I'm unsure what the most humane recourse would be short of let's all just eat farm raised shrimp.

 

[DavidPT40]

Are you talking about a 200 pound dolphin that was tangled in the shrimp net and thrashing about unable to escape? If so, what do you think the shrimp boat should have done? I'm having a hard time imagining a shrimp boat intentionally capturing and beating a dolphin just for the fun of it. I'm unsure what the most humane recourse would be short of let's all just eat farm raised shrimp.

Untangling the dolphin, and throwing him back into the ocean is most humane course.

 

[redacted]

Untangling the dolphin, and throwing him back into the ocean is most humane course.

I'm sure they would welcome any suggestions on how to do that without undue risk to crewmen. But I'm just guessing that is a bit harder than giving a cat a bath.

 

[rachel0]

Are you talking about a 200 pound dolphin that was tangled in the shrimp net and thrashing about unable to escape? If so, what do you think the shrimp boat should have done? I'm having a hard time imagining a shrimp boat intentionally capturing and beating a dolphin just for the fun of it. I'm unsure what the most humane recourse would be short of let's all just eat farm raised shrimp.

I guess I wasn't very clear. The dolphin wasn't accidently entangled in a net full of shrimp (although if it was, it would still be better to let go rather than BEATING IT).

No, I'm talking about people throwing about a baited line and large hook, netting what looked like a small dolphin and what the captain of the boat (a marine biologist) I was on confirmed that was a baby dolphin then the crew beat the dolphin with that hook. I saw it. They baited it. And as we were pulling away, I saw them throw out another line with bait at the dolphins that were surrounding their boat.

Supposedly, some communities eat dolphins (this is according to the captain of the boat I was on). I don't know why they did it, but it was clearly intentional.

That shrimp boat also had a large shark. I and the rest of the our boat saw the shark trying to wiggle out through (I don't know the name) of the hole on side of the boat on the deck so water escapes. A crewmember pulled the shark back in. I couldn't tell what kind of shark it was.

 

[Ishie]

Are you talking about a 200 pound dolphin that was tangled in the shrimp net and thrashing about unable to escape? If so, what do you think the shrimp boat should have done? I'm having a hard time imagining a shrimp boat intentionally capturing and beating a dolphin just for the fun of it. I'm unsure what the most humane recourse would be short of let's all just eat farm raised shrimp.

I have a hard time imagining people shooting sea lions with crossbows to "teach them not to steal our fish", and yet...

Ishie

 

[redacted]

I guess I wasn't very clear. The dolphin wasn't accidently entangled in a net full of shrimp (although if it was, it would still be better to let go rather than BEATING IT).

No, I'm talking about people throwing about a baited line and large hook, netting what looked like a small dolphin and what the captain of the boat (a marine biologist) I was on confirmed that was a baby dolphin then the crew beat the dolphin with that hook. I saw it. They baited it. And as we were pulling away, I saw them throw out another line with bait at the dolphins that were surrounding their boat.

Supposedly, some communities eat dolphins (this is according to the captain of the boat I was on). I don't know why they did it, but it was clearly intentional.

That shrimp boat also had a large shark. I and the rest of the our boat saw the shark trying to wiggle out through (I don't know the name) of the hole on side of the boat on the deck so water escapes. A crewmember pulled the shark back in. I couldn't tell what kind of shark it was.

Yes, you are right. That makes absolutely no sense and should be stopped. I guess I was giving the shrimper much more credit than was due.

I should have known better. We lost out last dive at Stetson yesterday on the Spree as we joined a search for a shrimp boat crewman who decided to quit "in mid stream" so to speak. He just jumped overboard and disappeared.