Divers shoot Sand Tigers off Wilmington coast

[RAD Diver]

I have no problems with spearfishing, but to spear Sandtigers is deplorable, Ive dove The Indra a couple of times & never got to see any. Now there are 2 less, & the 1 that got away probably had a long, slow death.
Im looking to get AOW with Discovery in Aug to do the deeper wrecks mainly for the Sandtigers.
They should have turned them over to the authorities(sp),sorry Im peed off & cant spell.
What is the boat & Capt. so Ill never dive with them in future.

 

[ReefGuy]

Breaking the law doesn't make things better. This needs to be reported - we are talking Felony here.

These idiots should have the c-cards pulled and their gear taken. The captain is also at fault big time. As soon as Ren and Stimpy surfaced and brought the shark aboard, he should have not only lecture them like a drill sergeant, he should have tossed their guns over board!!!

If I were on board, I would have gone nuts. I have made several trips to NC, and the highlight is to see the sharks.

 

[flounderer]

I don't have a single problem with spearfishing, I do it often. The problem comes when a wreck know to be home to dozens of sharks is the hunting ground. I don't care how you plan your dive the sharks will go after you once a fish is speared. For this reason the divers should not plan to become a target of the shark. Charter operations should monitor the customers and respect the other divers who are not spearfishing, it also places them in danger. I see these sharks as being pets, it's like someone went into my backyard and blasted my dog. It burns me up to no end. The sharks are still around the wreck, minus 2, but they are still there. Hopefully bring some light to this issue will save a shark in the future.

Pat

 

[redacted]

I don't have a single problem with spearfishing, I do it often. The problem comes when a wreck know to be home to dozens of sharks is the hunting ground. I don't care how you plan your dive the sharks will go after you once a fish is speared. For this reason the divers should not plan to become a target of the shark. Charter operations should monitor the customers and respect the other divers who are not spearfishing, it also places them in danger. I see these sharks as being pets, it's like someone went into my backyard and blasted my dog. It burns me up to no end. The sharks are still around the wreck, minus 2, but they are still there. Hopefully bring some light to this issue will save a shark in the future.

Pat

I agree that spearfishing should be done with adequate consideration of others, the environment, and the hazards. And this incident was not.

But what, if any, laws were violated?

 

[herman]

This is COMPLETELY true, I was on that charter and swam 10 ft from with the big tiger- an 8 to 10 fter maybe 10 minutes before these morons killed it. They were using powers heads and claimed to have shot it 3 times. It gets worse, I saw at least 1 or 2 fish they left on the bottom. Several of us had a discussion about these guys. I don't spear fish and have nothing against it - I have pulled my share of fish on board but these were slob "hunters" at best. They were also very careless with their guns underwater, several of us had fairly close encounters with their shaft points on the way up and down the anchor line. I don't think the captain had any idea what these guys were up to until it was too late. I considered calling marine fisheries but as all the evidence has long been thown overboard it did not seem worth while. I suspect the owner of the boat will change the way the operation handles spearfisherman from now on. I am comfident he will take note of the disgust expressed here.

 

[ReefGuy]

I don't know about the local laws, but spearing sharks in Florida is illegal.

Also, hunting with powerheads is illegal. They are for personal protection only.

Herman, from a spearfisherman: report them. Even if it does no good.

I agree that spearfishing should be done with adequate consideration of others, the environment, and the hazards. And this incident was not.

But what, if any, laws were violated?

 

[cyklon_300]

seems pretty spineless...as well as the passengers. Why were the other divers silent about these clowns harming the wildlife?

I'd boycott an operator who took no action on this kind of misconduct.

 

[coop1]

I agree that spearfishing should be done with adequate consideration of others, the environment, and the hazards. And this incident was not.

But what, if any, laws were violated?

From the NC DMF Page
Prohibited Finfish Species Coastal Waters
(Internal waters and Atlantic Ocean out to 3 miles EEZ
(Atlantic Ocean more than 3 miles)
Sturgeon, Nassau grouper, and Goliath grouper (jewfish). Prohibited sharks include: basking, white, sand tiger, and whale. Sharks; (whale, basking, white, sand tiger, bigeye sand tiger, Atlantic angel shark, bigeye sixgill, bigeye thresher, bignose, Caribbean reef, Caribbean sharpnose, dusky, Galapogos, longfin mako, narrowtooth, night, sevengill, sixgill, and smalltail), red drum, striped bass, sturgeon, Nassau grouper, Goliath grouper (jewfish), and spearfish.

While I don't believe it's illegal to spear them outside of the EEZ, you cannot possess them within it so.... unless they were planning on eating it out there, they would not have been in comliance with the state laws. There is a little know federal offense called "wanton waste" which is basically there to alliviate the killing of animals with out a genuine attempt to recover. The captian should not have let these guys dive with a powerhead though. Thats too dangerous when all divers are not aware of it. These yahoos sound like they were just out to spear something, anything and they were too lazy to stalk a grouper or snapper or too blind to see a flounder. What *****h0!3s. Hopefully this SW fishing license passes and will weed out some of these jerks. If you're a diver on a charter boat, and witness any unlawful act such as this by another diver, I urge you to let the captian know. Chances are, he'll do something about it. If not, you should at least make a report. While nothing may be done about that particular act, a history of reports of the same unlawfull act will eventually result in some type of enforcement. Someone with a camera on board or while diving should've taken a pic of this. It goes a long way when you have proof.

coop

 

[herman]

seems pretty spineless...as well as the passengers. Why were the other divers silent about these clowns harming the wildlife?

I'd boycott an operator who took no action on this kind of misconduct.

4 spear guns and an assortment of power heads for one..along with a cooler of beer for after the dive seemed like pretty reasonable reasons to me.

 

[redacted]

From the NC DMF Page
Prohibited Finfish Species Coastal Waters
(Internal waters and Atlantic Ocean out to 3 miles EEZ
(Atlantic Ocean more than 3 miles)
Sturgeon, Nassau grouper, and Goliath grouper (jewfish). Prohibited sharks include: basking, white, sand tiger, and whale. Sharks; (whale, basking, white, sand tiger, bigeye sand tiger, Atlantic angel shark, bigeye sixgill, bigeye thresher, bignose, Caribbean reef, Caribbean sharpnose, dusky, Galapogos, longfin mako, narrowtooth, night, sevengill, sixgill, and smalltail), red drum, striped bass, sturgeon, Nassau grouper, Goliath grouper (jewfish), and spearfish.

coop

Thanks

Culpable divers and boat captain should be reported. Both to the legal authorities and on forums like this. Chances are this forum will cost him more.