Hippy divers

[Jax]

How does the whole ethos of spearfishing, shell collecting, etc reoncile with the ethos of the scuba diver being a conservationist who is only there to observe the underwater natural environment.

Ive never been spearfishing, and maybe I'm missing something such as it only involving hunting pest species, etc. Is spearfishing etc frowned upon, or how is it justified?

By the way, congrats on your 100th post!

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Spear fishing is hunting- but for fish, not birds or land mammals. Most sport hunters and fisherman contribute to the preservation of habitat and all contribute through their license fees. I am not a fan of spearfishing, and don't like it done near me, but othersr do like to engage in the sport and more power to them. I think all divers, including spearfishermen and those who don't, should support organizations that protect the environment (Project Aware) but we don't all have to have the same politics. Let's all work to preserve the oceans and reefs for spearfishemen, photographers, and the rest of us divers.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Skydiver1]

Can this thread be moved to "whine and Cheese" so we can really say what we want??

Mod please move to the appropriate forum. Thanks

 

[Skydiver1]

Just occured to me that there were extremes in the approach with any gloves being banned on any dives I did in Egypt while things were more liberal in Florida.

 

[Jax]

Mod please move to the appropriate forum. Thanks

Just occured to me that there were extremes in the approach with any gloves being banned on any dives I did in Egypt while things were more liberal in Florida.

You dived in Egypt? Excellent! What took you there?

You will find some places - Cozumel and Caymans come to mind - that are Marine preserves and ban knives and gloves. The places that depend on tourism are very sensitive to any loss of reef fish.

That said, Cozumel allows the natives (Mayan people) to fish, as that is how they have lived for centuries.

 

[Teamcasa]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Moved to underwater hunting..

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[Skydiver1]

You dived in Egypt? Excellent! What took you there?

You will find some places - Cozumel and Caymans come to mind - that are Marine preserves and ban knives and gloves. The places that depend on tourism are very sensitive to any loss of reef fish.

That said, Cozumel allows the natives (Mayan people) to fish, as that is how they have lived for centuries.

Just heard it was good to dive there, it's the best place I've been so far for diving.

All that makes sense about spearhunting, as another poster said I took the "Take only pictures.." world of padi thing too literally.

 

[vinegarbiscuit]

I freely admit to being a mewling hippie (hippy?), and a vegetarian to boot. I start snivelling whenever I see anyone striding out of the water with a fish/cephalopod/whatever on the end of their spear, or see a live shell out of the water. Watching these critters underwater gives me such pleasure - they all have their personalities, and some like octopuses are so remarkably intelligent - that I simply can't imagine skewering them. That said, I know there are folks that disagree with me, and that's fine. I recognize that when done responsibly (ie, when people abide by clear and sustainable rules governing size and the number of fish taken), spearfishing is one of the most sustainable forms of fishing that exists. Beats long-lining by a few furlongs, that's for sure.

I've also had the good fortune to encounter first-hand how hunters can be driving forces behind conservation. There's a bloke here on Oahu who is a huge shell expert. He frequently takes shells, but there's little one can say against it when he can reel off the shell's Latin name, as well as all - and I mean ALL - the facts and statistics relating to the mollusc's habitat, population, reproduction, and so on. As such, he's a huge force for conservation, which was a real eye-opener for me, and tirelessly gives his time to ensure the well-being of molluscs throughout the Hawaiian islands, but especially here on Oahu. Sadly, there are few hunters that can match JJ in terms of knowledge or expertise about a particular group of critters. That's why I have a default 'no-take' attitude until I see that the collector/hunter/whatever has a significant body of specialized knowledge.

 

[Seraphimx]

(real lobster - the ones with claws from the northeast).

Out of topic but,
I approve, lobsters you eat should have claws. It's the tastiest part.

As per the main question, I think it's the consciousness of the act that is important.

If you pick up any shell without even knowing about them, I'd say that's bad. But if you're a real collector and know which ones are live, dead, endangered, parasites etc.. Well you can contribute.
Same goes for spearfishing, I'm pretty sure there are a lot of spearfishers who just do it for the hunt and not for the eating part. How many of you have gone fishing and brought back some fish home that you had to freeze and you ate over a long period of time. Before spearfishing, I'll take a class and read a book about the local fauna.

PADI needs to make absolutes, it needs to put clear cut guidelines. And It works, if you don't know, don't do it.
If PADI started saying "maybe", well everyone would take it as a 20%yes 80%no, and magically, 90% of the people would still do it.
Look at it, PADI says it's 100% not right, and people still do it.

Nothing is pure black or white, but a shade of gray. Make an Informed decision, it's the best thing you could do.
If by mistake you shoot an endangered species, well it's not ok but what can you do, abort the hunting, look it up, check why you made a mistake and how to improve.
We are but imperfect beings.

 

[Kiwi303]

When you are maundering on about the Conservationist, I think you are actually confusing them with the Protectionist... A conservationist wants to conserve prey stocks and the environment so there is sufficient left to provide dinner for his/her descendants, a protectionist just wants all harvesting banned so no-one can have any...