Freediver death after spearing Jewfish (Goliath Grouper)

[agilis]

I read a sketchy account this morning of a freediving spearfisherman in Florida who apparently was killed when the large grouper he'd speared ran into some sort of cover, entangling and trapping the diver with his own spear lines. Any further information about this?

 

[eckybay]

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida diver shot a large grouper with a spear gun then apparently drowned when the fish sped into a hole, entangling the man in the line attached to the spear, investigators said Monday.

The 42-year-old man, whose name was withheld, was free-diving in about 25 feet of water off the lower Florida Keys Saturday and speared a Goliath Grouper, Monroe County Sheriff's Detective Mark Coleman said.

"It looks like the fish wrapped the line attached to the spear around the victim's wrist. The fish then went into a hole in a coral rock, effectively pinning the man to the bottom of the ocean," Coleman said in a news release.

Police divers found the speared fish tightly wedged into the hole, with the man's body still tangled in the line, a sheriff's spokeswoman said.

Goliath Grouper are the largest members of the sea bass family and can weigh hundreds of pounds.

 

[RonFrank]

I read a sketchy account this morning of a freediving spearfisherman in Florida who apparently was killed when the large grouper he'd speared ran into some sort of cover, entangling and trapping the diver with his own spear lines. Any further information about this?

I thought Goliath Groupers where protected?

Did the fish live?

Maybe a good rule of thumb, if the fish is larger than you are, leave it alone.

I have no issue with sport fishing, or spearfishing, but I just don't know what benifit killing the largest fish has, and they are going to be the best breeders, and in the case of the Jewfish, the only breeders.

My thoughts go out to the family of the deceased, but maybe this is a Darwin award canidate.

 

[5ata]

what I read here is again about a lack of proper freedive instruction.

1) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!! He's entangled? Use your knife and cut yourself loose. I bet when the investigation is done, they will find he didn't have a knife.

2) If he had a weight belt on, ditch the damn thing.

3) Once again, freediving - specifically, spearfishing by yourself is a huge No No... Had he been with a properly trained buddy, he could have been rescued. Darwin award candidate for sure on this...

Freedivers - especially spearo's - get indignant about freedive cert courses, but this once again proves that a Darwin award candidate shows what NOT to do in something like this. Proper training would have greatly improved his chances of survival.

I'm currently working with a student and we're headed out to a coastal lake today specifically to address technique for emergency situations - I feel bad for his family, but he was dead before he even made the descent in my opinion.

Please Please Please - any of you scuba divers thinking of freediving - don't dive alone and get proper training in all aspects of freediving - you received the same kind of training for scuba...

 

[agilis]

Goliath groupers (Jewfish) are highly endangered and protected by Florida law. Over the years, scuba divers with spearguns had a lot to do with the decline, since the adults, being huge, have very large territorial requirements, have never been numerous, and make big, easy, tempting targets for some people.

 

[occrider]

Just saw this on reuters. It looks like he was freediving not scubadiving, but I guess this underscores the importance of a knife or shears.

Fish kills spear-fishing diver
Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:39am ET
Oddly Enough News

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida diver shot a large grouper with a spear gun then apparently drowned when the fish sped into a hole, entangling the man in the line attached to the spear, investigators said Monday.

The 42-year-old man, whose name was withheld, was free-diving in about 25 feet of water off the lower Florida Keys Saturday and speared a Goliath Grouper, Monroe County Sheriff's Detective Mark Coleman said.

"It looks like the fish wrapped the line attached to the spear around the victim's wrist. The fish then went into a hole in a coral rock, effectively pinning the man to the bottom of the ocean," Coleman said in a news release.

Police divers found the speared fish tightly wedged into the hole, with the man's body still tangled in the line, a sheriff's spokeswoman said.

Goliath Grouper are the largest members of the sea bass family and can weigh hundreds of pounds.
http://today.reuters.com/news/artic...xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C5-oddlyEnoughNews-3&rpc=92

 

[REII]

Yes it sure does. Karma's a funny thing sometimes. Goliath Groupers are still a protected species as far as I know.

I don't spearfish much anymore, but it strikes me as nuts to spear a fish that big with a line anyway don't you think.

TOM

 

[moneysavr]

Sad,
For the Grouper.
But as said they are protected and the guy should of known this fact!
Sometimes things just work out real strange.

 

[fairybasslet]

That title on this thread is very misleading and, it is incorrect. The grouper did not kill this man.

 

[Wayward Son]

Nuthin but speculation at this point. Did he shoot it on purpose? To poach it, or not knowing it was protected & thinking it was a legal fish? Or was this defensive? GG's can be as bad or worse than sharks coming after your fish. Dunno & maybe no way to ever know.