Do Not Touch

[desiredbard]

tell that to the diver who lost a finger p~ssing one off last year. They've got serious teeth and will use them.

To bad this one got prodded with a litlle metal pointer, knowing what i know now .....

Handling any fish or animal could result in serious consequences for the fish. Many have mucous thta if lost can lead to infection, interaction can expose them to predators etc etc. thats why you're not getting an answer.

I've seen that the first conger i ever got on camera had white rings all over it. I teased it out showing it a wigling finger, but never touched it. However since the conger staud out afterwards and let himself be photographed from all angles, I am now wondering if thouse rings are not fingersized.

Again I do see your point... I have to read up on that seacucumber now....
But I think that is in the line of what i mean...it seems harmless....but.
Again the "reef", ahem, life on the west coast is different. I mean in a marine park you practically cannot lean anywhere for support, and you have to search for a support point... west coast ireland..... you can dig yourself a tunnel underneath a creature without harming anything but grains of sand.

Still I do believe that there are more people here that touch then those who admit to.
I refuse to believe that there are meny divers out there that intentionally hurt fish or like that budy of mine loose their temper like that.
I have however no problem admitting faults and want to learn from my mistakes.

To be quite rude.... a parrotfish more or less is something different then lets say a turtle. Now please dont see this as black and white as it is written, but I hope you all get my point. Everybody knows turtles are protected and parotfish...well sometimes there is poorer viz due to parotfish then due to silt.

So there might be enough night divers that accidentily, on a nightdive go to close to a parrot and pierce its buble... and thats things I want to know about...

 

[desiredbard]

Zorrr2--- AMEN to your post!! I agree completely!

Desiredbard-- It appears that you are new to SB, however, If you would peruse the board, you will see MANY, MANY, MANY posts about how environmentally friendly the vast majority of posters are... and this includes the no touch thing. You must have had at least some *slight* inkling that the original post would not get the desired results. It should seem obvious, after 5 pages, that you are not going to get the info that you are asking for!! And, in the process, I think it (IMHO) would *probably* be safe to say that you aren't gaining any friendships and/or potential dive buddies... in the process of compiling a list of things that one *might* or *might not* be able to touch. It's simple, really, it is.... JUST DON'T TOUCH OR MOLEST!!

Now... I'm not trying to stir up anything... just trying to state what I see. One should consider it an honor to be blessed enough to even enter the underwater world.

Just think (hypothetically for a moment)... and put yourself in the "fishes fins" for a moment.... if fish could visit our world... you wouldn't want them to poke holes in our houses to be able to "see us better"... or to sting us/poison us to "hear us scream or see our facial expressions"... or even have a whole school of fish block the entrance to our home (or workplace, etc) and watch the robber mug us or worse. Hmmm... that wouldn't seem fair now would it? Well, if you touch or molest the fishies... you are doing the same thing!

OK... off my soapbox now!

Whoah ...I know I know.....
Please do not think that I do not respect that.....
Its more that I am still a bit upset by what might have been caused.
I love animals... still upset about a cat i tipped with my car and who i had to help with a wheeliron.

But I'm a fairly new diver..... i absolutely love it and yes I was happy to see what a puffer does. Its amazing if you think about it.
The trick I learned . Try to float an inch above the bottom about 1 - 2 meters away and in front of a grouper and just stay there hands on your back and look at it. Did you know the thing practically swims upt to your gogles. (Oh yes breath realy realy slowly) they will eventually group up with you. Of course you might not aprove but ii think its an amazing experience.

Al i intended to do with this post is to warn people who do not touch (but secretly do) thet the harmles ones can get hurt too. There is no point in telling all the 100+ divers here who never in their live touched a common prawn that they should not touch.

 

[KrisB]

To be quite rude.... a parrotfish more or less is something different then lets say a turtle. Now please dont see this as black and white as it is written, but I hope you all get my point. Everybody knows turtles are protected and parotfish...well sometimes there is poorer viz due to parotfish then due to silt.

So, just because some politician says that turtles are special and doesn't say that about parrotfish means that's true?

Give your head a shake -- turn the tables around. How would you feel if there was a giant alien that occasionally liked to come visit your neighbourhood -- about 12 times your size -- and would sometimes pick you up and prod you? That's essentially what you're advocating here!

 

[KrisB]

still upset about a cat i tipped with my car and who i had to help with a wheeliron.

Personally, I'd say that was a good use of a wheeliron -- but we're not talking about carefree animals that shat in my flowerbed right now.

 

[desiredbard]

Good use of a wheeliron yes. That thing was beyond the help of e decent vet... A cat is supposed to heve 4 legs and be able to jump, if it has not it cannot survive.
My car is about 200x the size of the ex-furbal and myself 10-15x.

I dont see why a cat is carefree though and a parrotfish not. Actually cats would be at greater risk of dying of human interference (baked spunges, guns, cars, dogs) than a parrotfish is.

Again point being examples for those that secretly touch (yes it does happen get your head of the sand) that also the harmless animals suffer consequences. And peticular examples work better then a general rule.

I cant be the only "ignorant" newby here..... well maybe newby....ignorant I'm damn sure i'm not the only one

 

[fishb0y]

Do me a favor... I try really hard to leave my politics off SB. Leave yours off please.

 

[desiredbard]

Do me a favor... I try really hard to leave my politics off SB. Leave yours off please.

paradox..... maybe the car/human size vs cat size is a better one

 

[fishb0y]

I look at this whole thread like all of the other "Don't Touch" threads that I have seen within the past 6 months...

Mother nature is much more robust than what people make it out to be. Am I saying that we do not harm the environment, of course we do. unfortunately, much of what we do harms the environment, and instead of forcing people to protect the environment, which large groups of people attempt... you need to educate the common person.

The impact that scuba divers have on the environment is minimal compared to other aquatic activities such as commercial fishing, beachfront development and waste dumping. A diver interacting with marine life probably does more good in the education to protecting mother nature, than the harm that a simple touch causes.

erparamedic did a great job humanizing fish, but they are just that, fish. They do not have the same emotions that we humans have, no matter how many times you watch Finding Nemo.

I have yet to see where this "protective slime" of fish has caused a genocide (not my word) to the fish population in a marine sanctuary due to its removal. I live close to Hanaumu Bay here on Oahu, have been there many times. While the inner reef has seen better days, the rest of the reef is thriving. I have never seen parrot fish that size anywhere else. With the MILLIONS of tourists that visit Hanauma each year, according to the "no touches", it should be a barren wasteland.

The long short of it, if you don't know what you are touching, don't. Not to "save the environment" but to keep yourself from getting injured (fire coral, cone snails, blue-ringed octopus). Interacting with marine life is a great way to help the environment. The more you learn, the better conservationist you will be. BTW, thank you Mr. Bush for our newest National Monument in the Hawaiian Islands.

 

[KrisB]

It was a bit of a joke, Bas -- I, personally, detest cats and would like to see similar laws in place that prevent their "running free" as there are for dogs. Admittedly, it was probably in poor taste.

The bottom line is that none of us wants to harm the natural environment we dive in... so *why* do you insist on touching stuff? I mean, if something comes up and touches you, that's FINE! Like, holding your hand out for the cleaner shrimp -- they don't *have* to clean it... but they probably will.

Ultimately, there is no hard and fast rule about what creatures you can touch without risking your limb. Just as there is no hard and fast rule about what creatures you can touch without risking their health!

If you want to touch, fine... if the animal defends itself (remember, it is wild), deal with the consequences.

By the way, if you want a more academic discussion here, you might stop trying to convince people that other people are "touchers" -- ask for yourself, get an answer for yourself. The only thing you succeed in by saying you're not the only one that does this is demonstrating a defensive attitude that is trying to become one of the crowd to justify his actions... and what you're likely discovering here is that "the crowd" is not as large as you assumed.

 

[desiredbard]

FishBoy KrisB thats exactly my point
Touch and bear the SPECIFIC consequences,
Touch and find out yourself the hard way with a lion or moray.

But the only way is to educate people, So FishBoy
Any fish you should not touch beacuse indeed the fish will be harmed?