Eel Attack in Cozumel (The Feeding of Lionfish)

[BKP]

Joyceschur... glad to hear you came out relatively unscathed...

Unfortunately, I can empathize with you on the disorienting nature of sudden, sharp, unexpected pain... I've practiced martial arts/boxing for decades, however, while sparring, I'm still at a rare, but occasional loss for the definitive response when I catch a perfectly placed un-gloved palm-heel to my solar-plexus...

It happens...

To the point of the thread, count me as a +1 in favor of NOT feeding LF's by hand to the indigenous life. It doesn't come to any good with the local *land-based* wildlife by my home, either... I understand the good intentions, however, we all know the adage concerning 'best intentions.'

Dive safe...

 

[Reef Tank]

It doesn't come to any good with the local *land-based* wildlife by my home, either... I understand the good intentions, however, we all know the adage concerning 'best intentions.'

Dive safe...

Often posting on Scubaboard is like diving with eels. One may get bit by the *land-based* wildlife.

 

[BKP]

Often posting on Scubaboard is like diving with eels. One may get bit by the *land-based* wildlife.

So true...
(and very astute catch...)

 

[joyceschur]

Lots of inaccurate readers, erroneous assumptions and word parsing going on with this thread.

PeterGuy – you are so off in your statement “there is only one Underwater Emergency, and that is being out of gas -- everything else is an inconvenience!” How about loss of consciousness from shock or adverse allergic reaction? How about excessive blood loss? If you took the Nitrox specialty, perhaps you’ll remember the possibility of underwater convulsions. I hope you never find yourself in a situation where you need to consider these types of “inconveniences” or have a dive buddy with such a cavalier attitude.

Final details for those who trivialized on the basis of “no stitches required”: I was bit on my left arm along the top/bottom of my wrist near the base of the thumb. There were over 20 puncture wounds; lots of bleeding (moray crinotoxins are not lethal but lead to advanced pain and bleeding). I couldn’t discern if arteries were involved, but the pain was extraordinary followed by a wave of nausea. I attempted to dump air from the right BCD pull cord, elevated my left arm, used my right to put pressure on the wound, tucked my head down to avoid blacking out and began a CONTROLLED EMERGENCY ASCENT. The dive buddy (who saw it all), came over and took charge, I’m very grateful.

Puncture wounds can bleed profusely and don’t necessarily require stitches.

I’d like to get back to the original reasons for this thread, there are two main concerns and I’ve contacted PADI with both these questions:

1) Is it professional, responsible conduct for hired DMs to divert their attention from customers in order to hunt lionfish during the course of a guided dive?

2) Is it a prudent lionfish elimination policy to feed de-spined/filleted lionfish to eels on popular dive reefs in an artificial attempt to cultivate them as lionfish predators?

 

[DandyDon]

Yeah, I'm glad it wasn't me bleeding. I hate it when that happens; and heavy bleeding would excite me for sure. None of us witnessed this but it sounds like not fun at all, no prior training offered, etc.

It's also unfortunate when a diver shares a bad experience here only to have his/her skills criticized. Does happen tho...​

I'm all for killing lions but just drop them, and don't teach eels to associate divers with threats.

 

[vladimir]

2) Is it a prudent lionfish elimination policy to feed de-spined/filleted lionfish to eels on popular dive reefs in an artificial attempt to cultivate them as lionfish predators?

I will again agree with you that this is probably an ill-conceived behavioral modification experiment (was there any scientific input on this scheme, I wonder?) more likely to mark divers as a food source than lionfish.

1) Is it professional, responsible conduct for hired DMs to divert their attention from customers in order to hunt lionfish during the course of a guided dive?

This answer is going to hinge on what a divemaster's responsibilities to his "charges" are. Many vacationing divers seem to rely on their divemasters to be underwater lifeguards of a sort, and you seem to be placing yourself in that camp. I think there is a consensus, at least among the vocal Scubaboarders, that divers or buddy pairs should be independently responsible for their safety. As an avid solo diver, I put myself in that camp as well. I don't expect anything from my divemaster underwater except the benefit of his local knowledge in a thorough pre-dive briefing. If he stays on the boat, even better.

 

[fire_diver]

Wow, you just don't know when to stop do you?

If you don't knwo the difference between arterial, venous or capillary bleeding, you need to retake your first responder course. Yuo didn't adequately absorb the knowledge given.

The pros and cons of feeding lionfish to other sealife can be debated (although there is very little opposition to that).
Did you personally pay the DM to be YOURS and YOURS ALONE dive buddy? If that was the case, he was not doing a very good job. If he was the DM for the entire group, you need to realize you are just one of many, and he is trying to make the dive better for everyone.

You obviously have a serious problem with people finding fault in your actions and offering suggestions. I am done trying to help you. Have a good life.

 

[fire_diver]

It's also unfortunate when a diver shares a bad experience here only to have his/her skills criticized. Does happen tho.

That is because the vast majority of "bad experiences" are a direct result of a lack of skills.

Anyone can say "Awww poor baby. There, there, it's all better now". Finding the root cause of problems helps everyone be a better diver.

 

[DandyDon]

That is because the vast majority of "bad experiences" are a direct result of a lack of skills.

Anyone can say "Awww poor baby. There, there, it's all better now". Finding the root cause of problems helps everyone be a better diver.

Well, we are certainly going to discourage them from discussing it here, huh?

Well, I don't expect much from a DM either, just lead the dive and I'll keep up if I'm in the mood or send my own sausage up when I ascend, but bleeding upsets me regardless of blood color. I doubt my home bud or a boat pick would be helpful tho so I guess I'll work that out on my own if it happens.

 

[SoccerJeni]

Final details for those who trivialized on the basis of “no stitches required”: I was bit on my left arm along the top/bottom of my wrist near the base of the thumb. There were over 20 puncture wounds; lots of bleeding (moray crinotoxins are not lethal but lead to advanced pain and bleeding). I couldn’t discern if arteries were involved, but the pain was extraordinary followed by a wave of nausea. I attempted to dump air from the right BCD pull cord, elevated my left arm, used my right to put pressure on the wound, tucked my head down to avoid blacking out and began a CONTROLLED EMERGENCY ASCENT. The dive buddy (who saw it all), came over and took charge, I’m very grateful.

Puncture wounds can bleed profusely and don’t necessarily require stitches.

I’d like to get back to the original reasons for this thread, there are two main concerns and I’ve contacted PADI with both these questions:

1) Is it professional, responsible conduct for hired DMs to divert their attention from customers in order to hunt lionfish during the course of a guided dive?

2) Is it a prudent lionfish elimination policy to feed de-spined/filleted lionfish to eels on popular dive reefs in an artificial attempt to cultivate them as lionfish predators?

In reading this thread I had wondered if puncture wounds sometimes don't require stitches, but can be deep in nature? It sounds like that's possible. I for some reason thought about a snake bite, and wondered if there might be some simlilarities. It seems like I have some crazy friend out there that has a wound like that, that wasn't stitched. But who knows.

I agree, I don't think it's wise to hand feed animals in the wild. And I agree that there is something wrong with that area if they are asking DM's to take on the responsibility of killing the lionfish, while also guiding dives. Seems like there would probably be a lot of waiting around for him to kill & fillet the lionfish.

I'm with DandyDon on this, that we can discourage people from posting in this forum if we don't handle ourselves well. Everybody has their own approach, but obviously this situation was a big deal to her, and criticism can cause people to not want to share. IJS.