ScubaSarus
Guest
Maybe a couple of hundred of us divers should show up at a certain dive site and all go diving each one of us towing a flag. There would be 200 flags in the water and boats would not be able to navigate.
gloucester times article and public hearing
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matt_unique
Guest
ScubaSarus:
That would be a great call to action if some ridiculous law is passed. The only way to make any impact or send any message is through numbers. A call to action may also include volunteer videographers to document the behavior of lobster boats near dive flags and such. Make sure to zoom in on the boat name, registration number, etc., etc.
--Matt
Vtdiver2
Contributor
We'd have to have a bus....can you imagine trying to get 200+ divers to Folly Cove?matt_unique:
C-Dawg
ScubaSarus
Guest
If only we could rent that restaurant down the street for a day.
Vtdiver2
Contributor
I can't imagine going to Folly Cove without going for a lobster salad sandwich afterwards.ScubaSarus:
C-Dawg
MSilvia
Contributor
If the call to action is to make a statement rather than to get a lot of folks together for a fun dive, I'd say it would be better to scratch going to Folly, and instead go to whichever beach or cove has the most lobster buoys. We have to stay 25' from the traps (which is not the same as staying 25' from the buoys), but they have to stay 50' from the flags. With hundreds of divers trying to avoid lobster traps at the same site, the maze of dive flags would make pulling traps legally almost impossible. Not that I wish any ill on the lobstermen, but if enforcing that stupid law is their idea, I say let's show them what a bad idea it is.
I've been watching this, and a similar thread for a while. As a diver who frequents Cape Ann on occasion I wonder why the high level of animosity between lobstermen and divers? It seems that there needs to be a whole lot of educating necessary to bring both sides up to speed. I do know that fishermen tend to be opinionated regarding the environment and their livelihood, but some level of educated compromise seems in order.
If anything, diver take of lobsters is most likely miniscule, not to mention I have never heard, nor seen a diver take a lobster from a pot. Besides being illegal, divers I know tend to be interested in their own ability to catch a lobster- mano–e-mano.
My personal feeling is that the fishing industry in the Cape Cod/Ann doesn't quite understand that fishing (in general) is a industry hugely affected by available/dwindling stock and that divers are only looking at lobster from a recreational perspective. I can also imagine the latent anger in these folks as they see yet another threat to their diminishing occupation. Whether a diver bags, or doesn’t bag a lobster is not a huge biggie. As mentioned a forehand, many divers would rather get a lobster roll, or seafood dinner after a dive to cap off their underwater excursions. This action alone benefits the local fishing industry.
I also imagine that "if asked nicely" local and visiting divers would simply put aide their pursuit of lobster and focus on something else...shooting pictures, diving for the pure joy of it, or try their hand at spearfishing.
X
p.s. since I deal with politics a bit...is there some ability to form a bipartisan research, or smaller think tank associated with this issue?
If anything, diver take of lobsters is most likely miniscule, not to mention I have never heard, nor seen a diver take a lobster from a pot. Besides being illegal, divers I know tend to be interested in their own ability to catch a lobster- mano–e-mano.
My personal feeling is that the fishing industry in the Cape Cod/Ann doesn't quite understand that fishing (in general) is a industry hugely affected by available/dwindling stock and that divers are only looking at lobster from a recreational perspective. I can also imagine the latent anger in these folks as they see yet another threat to their diminishing occupation. Whether a diver bags, or doesn’t bag a lobster is not a huge biggie. As mentioned a forehand, many divers would rather get a lobster roll, or seafood dinner after a dive to cap off their underwater excursions. This action alone benefits the local fishing industry.
I also imagine that "if asked nicely" local and visiting divers would simply put aide their pursuit of lobster and focus on something else...shooting pictures, diving for the pure joy of it, or try their hand at spearfishing.
X
p.s. since I deal with politics a bit...is there some ability to form a bipartisan research, or smaller think tank associated with this issue?
matt_unique
Guest
Only Massacusetts divers can only take lobsters under a recreational permit...no commercial lobster diving available to my knowledge.
Unscrupulous lobsterman, fisherman, and recreational boaters are as much of a threat to trap contents as a diver....
Divers can and do assist lobsterman in retrieving gear lost in storms.....
What a tiny % of divers *may* do is NOTHING in comparison to what they *could* be doing....
Assuming the worst actions, Divers risk loss of life from lobsterman running them over, lobsterman risk loss of a few lbs of lobster from divers stealing from the trap....one is a felony and the other is what...petty theft?
Please correct or add your summary of facts I have missed....we will make better representives if we all have the same/correct information.
--Matt
Unscrupulous lobsterman, fisherman, and recreational boaters are as much of a threat to trap contents as a diver....
Divers can and do assist lobsterman in retrieving gear lost in storms.....
What a tiny % of divers *may* do is NOTHING in comparison to what they *could* be doing....
Assuming the worst actions, Divers risk loss of life from lobsterman running them over, lobsterman risk loss of a few lbs of lobster from divers stealing from the trap....one is a felony and the other is what...petty theft?
Please correct or add your summary of facts I have missed....we will make better representives if we all have the same/correct information.
--Matt
matt_unique:
Given your statistics/observations...it seems that the impending legislation is being foisted with nothing in the way of realistic data with respect to recreational diving's impact on local lobstering and lobster traps. If the fishermen and legislators understood the existing data - what their real beef? Is there another agenda in play?
If anyone is writing to local legislators and needs an outside diver's perspective I would be more than happy to draft a letter that educates, and perhaps persuades legislators to take a 360 perspective.
X
Dragon2115
Guest
Yes, if the pols support the lobstermen, they get reelected. If they support the divers they don't. Pretty simple really.
As for giving up lobstering if asked nicely, hell no!!! I paid for my license just like they did and therefore have every right to hunt lobster under the conditions of the law just like they do. I will also argue that since lobster is a State managed resource and I paid the State of Massachusetts for my license, and not to any city or town, I should be guaranteed equal access to that resource and no city or town should be able to enact any law that interferes with it.
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