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How could a diver be so cruel :((

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I just wanted to say... That guy has great hands, and should be playing football.. And the other thing was... Lighten up Frances, that's what puffer fish do.. That's how it got its name...

Jim...
 
So, what about this ?

So what's your point? Because some people eat fish we are allowed to torture marine life for our own pleasure? Or is it a scale (no pun intended) thing, because we kill so many fish we should be allowed to harass the ones that are not on our plate?
 
So what's your point? Because some people eat fish we are allowed to torture marine life for our own pleasure?

I think some people are just keeping things in perspective instead of over-reacting.

Describing that video as torturing marine life is an over-reaction. I'm not an advocate of touching marine life but I keep things in perspective. Catching a shark, cutting it's fins off and throwing it live back in the ocean to slowly drown is really bad. Catching a sea turtle and riding it and keeping it from surfacing to get a breath so it drowns is really bad. Pulling all the legs off of a starfish is really bad. Dropping an anchor onto a reef and dragging it through 20 feet of it is really bad. Using Dynamite to fish is really bad. The by-catch from commerical fishing using nets that goes on every day is a bad thing.

Touching a puffer and watching it puff up in defense as mother nature designed it to do and then letting it go is not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I don't believe for a second a puffer fish is hurt by puffing up, it's what they do, should people be grabbing them and doing this? Whatever...

We've got hundreds if not thousands of dive masters feeding lion fish to marine life in hopes of 'teaching' them to eat lion fish. That's a way bigger problem then touching a puffer fish.

Many countries don't share our American traits of treating animals like sacred objects, they think of animals as food, they think Americans are strange for how we treat our pets as family members. You're in their country when you visit a foreign country, your American ideals aren't always going to translate or be accepted as the norm. Dive enough in enough different places in the world and this is going to be one of the mildest things you witness. When you see something like this just wave the divemaster off, don't video it, don't take stills of it and let them know you're not interested in antics like that, that's the best way to 'educate' dive masters who want to put on a show for their clients for tips. If you really want to make your point, withhold any tips you were going to give them and man up and actually tell them why to their face on the dock.
 
Does anybody actually believe this from the article?

Can't find another article that uses "torture", "stress", and "kill", when talking about pufferfish.

Appeared to be a balloon fish in the video. I know that at least one variety has soft, flexible spines, thus no gloves on the diver in the video. Was the only diver on a single dive in Mexico, Pacific side, when the dive master swam by a slow moving balloon fish (unlike the faster puffer in the video.) He held it gently and it inflated to about the size of a small cantaloupe. He allowed me touch it, the reason I know the spines are soft. I was able to observe and experience, close up, something very cool that many other divers haven't seen.

Never thought that the sting rays, manta rays, sharks, and dolphins that touched me or that I touched felt stressed nor did I feel stressed. Granted these are larger than the little pufferfish, but the same principle?? Have also been able to feel the dreaded sea cucumber courtesy of a DM. Nothing cruel, everything gentle. Placed it back on the floor and it went back to doing what it was doing! I just look at it as a great experience, much like picking up a garter snake when you're a kid (at least for some.)

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not into going after delicate reef or chasing after anything just to antagonize it. I had enough dogs do that to me when I was a paperboy long ago and didn't like it myself! I know it was because the dog owners were using that paper to hit their pets and the pets didn't like me bringing that paper each day!

Anyway, I agree with mmmbelows that this is not such a big deal when compared to other things that are going on.
 
Does anybody actually believe this from the article?

Geeze that's like thinking mother nature is an idiot. I guess somebody will sooner or later put out a notice that making feinting goats feint is actually bad for them too....

Geez, its not like mother nature is an idiot who designed bees to die after they sting you, oh wait...

Most defense responses put great stress on animals and you can find countless sources detailing why puffing is bad for the puffer fish ranging from intense metabolic strain and complications with deflating resulting in death. Don't try to justify this behaviour.
 
And if you try to put a saddle on a wild mustang it will buck, does the act of bucking injure it? We can go on endlessly taking sides.. however until there is real scientific evidence that puffer fish puffing up as they've done for a million years actually hurts them I'm not buying into members of PETA about puffer fish based on their FEELINGS.

We live in the most ridiculously politically correct place on earth, we dumb everything down to the lowest common denominator because there are a lot of idiots who reside here. But we are also intelligent enough to understand when something is really a problem and when it's not. That's what separates us from those idiots who we legislate all freedoms into oblivion.

Just keep things in perspective that's all. Somebody touched a puffer fish... big deal, in the time this thread was started till now, many, many real atrocities have taken place in the world, that puffer fish probably is living a happy life on the reef today, or maybe it's been eaten by a moray eel, life goes on.
 
I would say that if sealife can be plucked form the sea is such large numbers and they are still abundant says that such touching behavior is not a threat to the overall existence of a species. What would your position be with lobster or grouper or any other eatery delight. Then I would ask the same about lion fish. The "harassing" that humans do in the opinion of some tree hugging humans is no where near the day to day life that they deal with from natural predators. Think about it in the parks,,, the signs that say don't feed the bears... is that for your protection of the bears? Most of these places that people do this,,, is probably a sanctuary that prohibits the harvesting of sea life. Is that not enough of a life break for these creatures. Now to be clear.... would I handle them. no. but if I did would I harm the eco-culture. NO. I would suspect that in more cases than not the chemicals you wear in the water harm more than touching. The fact that they are still here says perhaps we underestimate their resilience.


So what's your point? Because some people eat fish we are allowed to torture marine life for our own pleasure? Or is it a scale (no pun intended) thing, because we kill so many fish we should be allowed to harass the ones that are not on our plate?
 
Geez, its not like mother nature is an idiot who designed bees to die after they sting you, oh wait...

Most defense responses put great stress on animals and you can find countless sources detailing why puffing is bad for the puffer fish ranging from intense metabolic strain and complications with deflating resulting in death. Don't try to justify this behaviour.

For the record, it is only the honey bee that dies because more than just the stinger of the bee is left behind after the sting.

One of the latest resources I find (Dec. 2014) talks about the time it takes for the fish to return to typical metabolic levels after puffing but not intense strain. This along with the muscle actions to draw water in to inflate and maintain puffiness tire the fish out. Just like us when we tax our muscles. The problem, then, to me is not stressing the fish but tiring it out so it can't inflate when it really needs to protect itself from a predator. I guess then it would be stressed!

If I were challenged to do 20 push-ups immediately after doing 20 already, I would be hard pressed to repeat the effort without time to rest (actually I would be hard pressed since I probably can't do 10 anymore!)

Have to add what I read in a thread from 2004 (don't think it was SB) asking the question about if puffing was bad for the puffer. Many stated the puffer could only inflate 3-4 times in its life but the best was it could get stuck that way and die. Don't cross your eyes or they might get stuck!

Still not agreeing with the way the guy snatched the fish, but it's not as bad, to me, as a videographer breaking coral with their camera because they aren't paying attention.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Most likely the reason he harassed the fish to make it puff up was in order to make happy tipping customers

This behavior is common outside the diving world. A few years ago in Marrakech, a street performer in the Jemma el Fna square had a cobra under a tar (12" diameter traditional drum). When he lifted the drum, the cobra was curled up trying to conserve heat. To get the cobra to "perform", he teased it so it stood up in the typical aggressive cobra stance. I learned that these street performers were not snake charmers, rather snake bullies.

Sad way to make money out of another living thing's misery.

GJS
 
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