Dive site with Fishermen on it...

[Zoomer]

Question, lets say you and you buddy are out for a dive day and you come upon the site you want to dive and there are 3 or 4 fishing boats on it, what do you do? Pull up in the middle of them, put a dive flag and go for it? Do you expect the fishermen to leave? What about their lines in the water....

I am curious as to the answers I will get as I have been on both sides of this situation...

New Diver Dave

 

[Damselfish]

If it's a place fishing is allowed and they were there first, I certainly wouldn't expect them to leave.

 

[oly5050user]

go someplace else

 

[Don Burke]

Question, lets say you and you buddy are out for a dive day and you come upon the site you want to dive and there are 3 or 4 fishing boats on it, what do you do? Pull up in the middle of them, put a dive flag and go for it? Do you expect the fishermen to leave? What about their lines in the water....

I am curious as to the answers I will get as I have been on both sides of this situation...

New Diver Dave

Unless the site is really large and I can get on it without being close to them, I move on.

If there are only one or two, I might ask if they are planning to stay.

 

[cummings66]

First come first serve, anything else on public use areas is not acceptable. I don't see how anybody could think they have the right to kick another person out of an area just because they want to dive and somebody else is using it for fishing. They have as much right to it as I do, either work it out or dive elsewhere.

I'm curious what your views were that made you believe at one time it was ok for you to run them off and why you now have the opposite view, or whatever you currently think.

 

[rockjock3]

This one is a no brainer. They were there first and if they have the right to be there (not a non-fishing area) then move along to your backup dive site. You don't have any ownership over a dive site and have no additional rights over them to be there.

If you choose to dive it anyway, well then you are being as rude as if they were to see your flag in the water and come up on it, throw a large anchor in the water over you head and throw in their lines.

If somebody chose to dive a site like this then they would deserve any and all hooks that caught them in the jugular.

 

[cummings66]

Well, that's one way to say what we're thinking...

I'd like to know his thoughts however, it'd be interesting to see why he thought he had rights over the fisherman.

 

[ssflounder]

My own .02,
I am a frequent dark water diver around the SC Low country but I am an avid fisherman, mostly inshore. In the past, I didn'teven think about rolling overboard on top of a fishing spot. Around last year I've changed my mindset. I have fished many so called dive sites in the SC Low county and have noticed that the coda and sharks are much more aggressive, especially in the summer months. Probably because 7 days week people are throwing chum overboard. The chances of anything happening are probably pretty slim. I feel its better safe than sorry. I've been out fishing where you're lucky to bring any fish back to the boat whole.

 

[shawnheinrichs]

because fishermen are depleting the oceans at an insane rate while divers are spending to protect it...so good guys first

 

[Wayward Son]

In Panama City, EVERY dive site is a fishing site, you have to make do.

In general, if it's too crowded, we go to another spot. It there's only one or 2, we take the 'nice' approach. We ask if it would bother them for us to do a dive there. This so far has never failed to work out while I've been on the boat.

FWIW, if we're the 1st & only boat there & a fishing boat comes up, they never ask if they're H&L fishing would bother us. They are public sites, if folks use a little bit of consideration it doesn't have to result in problems.