How would you handle this?

[lowviz]

Your opinion is just as valid as mine. They are both just that, opinions.

 

[Rooster In Ohio]

Your opinion is just as valid as mine. They are both just that, opinions.

Except that some moved from opinion to action. I don't care if someone thinks he is a spotted turdstool - and maybe he is - and I don't care if someone posts that they think he is a spotted turdstool - it is all the other stuff I pointed out where certain people went beyond opinion to action or advocating action against this diver. I respect your opinion - and I respect your right to petition the government to change the law - what I don't respect is action against this diver.

R/S,

db

 

[lowviz]

...//... it is all the other stuff I pointed out where certain people went beyond opinion to action or advocating action against this diver. ...//...

Yes, this does not serve either side or the young diver in question. Never mind how I feel about his public personna.

Several would be well advised to tread more carefully. Again, my opinion.

 

[shoredivr]

From Spearboard:

Drama - Page 6 - Spearboard.com - The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Boating Social Media Forum

"The problem here is that part of the issue is that the kid went and posted photos all over his facebook page with the octo. Along with those photos, mixed in, is photos of his spearguns and him advocating that he is a spearo. More over, he stated publicly that he liked to spear in an underwater dive park that already is a marine preserve and closed to all harvesting of anykind.
Im afraid the link has already been made. Believe me when I say I hear your cries for spearo rights. I am a vocal advocate with the WDFW in favor of spearing rights here in Wa and have been apart of many of the debates to enhance our fishing rights here. However, what these kids did, WHERE they did, gave us all a huge black eye. The only thing we can do to save face is to stand with the Scuba divers and scream that this was not spearfishing, and no spearo in their right mind would ever harvest there. This is a battle we cannot win, and should not fight for. In this one case. "

 

[CT-Rich]

If everyone in your state reveres these creatures so much, then why don't the laws of your state reflect it? According to the website of the Washington Fish and Game Commission it is legal to take octopi year round all areas except marine area 12. You can even keep one if snagged on a fishing lure which I find a bit odd.

A liberterian friend of mine ( and frequent poster) have had many discussions along with online threads over the need to regulate diving. diving has been fortunate to avoid a lot of regualtion because we have a tradition of self policing. Plenty of threads revolve around whether you should speak up when observing someone doing something that shows poor judgement or hazardous. We haven't needed diving licenses because of this. As far as harvesting of wild life, most of the regulation involves animals of commercial or sport value. In the NE we need licenses for lobsters and have the size and catch limits of valuable fish like stripers regulated for the benefit of all. As far as I know, GPO, while having an intrinsic value to divers are not of particular commercial value. The self regulating nature of divers, means that the older generation takes the time to but in on the newer divers and give them advice. Bob seems to have been doing that trying to educate a newbie that taking of GPO from that area was a no-no. How did it come out? maybe not the way it was intended. But he definately had a right, and responsibility to alert this kid to the customs of this dive site. Things got blown out of proportion through the internet and the punishment may have been excessive. Bob didn't know that was going to happen, and he didn't have any control over it.

The kid should have been more respectful of local customs and been more patient with Bob's comments. He shouldn't have made the comments about it being a brooding female. That is like getting pissed at the TSA inspector at the airport and making a comment about a bomb. It was stupid. A part of the problem the kid has was brought on by his own poor judgement, both in keeping the octopus once he was alerted unwritten norm, and then by throwing gasoline on the fire.

If Bob was out of line, the arguement should have been about his tone and the legality of the harvest.

Maybe GPO should be protected in certain areas or just nesting females. up until now it doesn't look like it was a big issue.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

So, tell me where you all are right and I am wrong.

The d-bag in question, upon being confronted for taking the octopus, said in sum and substance: " you, I'm taking whatever I want from here, I'll take from here again just to piss you off, and there's not a damn thing you can do to me for it! Nanny nanny boo boo!"

Well, that got a response. And the only reason the response was as virulent and effective as it was is because of (a) his attitude to Bob and in his initial posts on Facebook defending himself, and (b) his public social media postings of other frankly disgusting activities that were quickly brought to light.

He asked for this, and he got it as bad as he did only because of how he'd presented himself before and after the GPO kill. Aside from real, legally-cognizable threats that were made to him or his family (neither of which I think anyone here was involved in), he deserved all that he got even though it's going to hurt him for some time to come.

 

[CT-Rich]

Steve, this is the exact argument that defeated lawyers use when they are about to lose their case due to lack of concrete evidence. When they have no legal leg to stand on they try to divert the attention of the jury to other aspects of the persons life which may seem out of the ordinary. "Casey Anthony went dancing, Casey Anthony was a bi-sexual Casey Anthony was an alcoholic!" By the end of the day, it is not up to divers to self-appoint themselves as behavior police for other divers.

Diving has traditionally been self regulated. None of the US certifications have any legal weight beyond what the certifying agency says. No license, No depth limit, no requirements to buy diving gear, few restrictions on where to dive. You can put a tank on your back hop in the water and go caving if you want. Most of the legal limitations are in reguard to boats and apply to all maritime traffic. We, by tradition, are the behavior police.

 

[Rooster In Ohio]

The d-bag in question, upon being confronted for taking the octopus, said in sum and substance: " you, I'm taking whatever I want from here, I'll take from here again just to piss you off, and there's not a damn thing you can do to me for it! Nanny nanny boo boo!"

Well, that got a response. And the only reason the response was as virulent and effective as it was is because of (a) his attitude to Bob and in his initial posts on Facebook defending himself, and (b) his public social media postings of other frankly disgusting activities that were quickly brought to light.

He asked for this, and he got it as bad as he did only because of how he'd presented himself before and after the GPO kill. Aside from real, legally-cognizable threats that were made to him or his family (neither of which I think anyone here was involved in), he deserved all that he got even though it's going to hurt him for some time to come.

So he asked for a man twice his age and a large number of total strangers to engage in a vendetta against him. And that makes it all right. I wasn't there and I know I have a temper but I hope I would have taken a different, perhaps higher road and would not have engaged him at his level.

So many missed opportunities to make a lot of people a lot better off.

R/S,

db

 

[Dr. Lecter]

So he asked for a man twice his age and a large number of total strangers to engage in a vendetta against him. And that makes it all right. I wasn't there and I know I have a temper but I hope I would have taken a different, perhaps higher road and would not have engaged him at his level.

So many missed opportunities to make a lot of people a lot better off.

R/S,

db

Feel free to weep over missed opportunities all you like; I'll save my sympathy for people who don't cop an attitude of 'I'll kill more stuff just because I know you want me not to.'

He asserted his legal rights as a sword against a community that asked him to stop doing something they didn't like, he did it with an attitude that invited whatever pushback they could generate, and he did it after putting out in the public domain a lot of stuff that made normal people who would otherwise care little about his doings say a collective YUCK. If you're going to do that, you shouldn't be surprised when they in turn skip what's generally considered civil and decent, and make you as miserable as they legally can. It's icing on the cake when you've provided most of the facts used to condemn you as Facebook/Myspace posts.

 

[Lopez116]

Feel free to weep over missed opportunities all you like; I'll save my sympathy for people who don't cop an attitude of 'I'll kill more stuff just because I know you want me not to.'

He asserted his legal rights as a sword against a community that asked him to stop doing something they didn't like, he did it with an attitude that invited whatever pushback they could generate, and he did it after putting out in the public domain a lot of stuff that made normal people who would otherwise care little about his doings say a collective YUCK. If you're going to do that, you shouldn't be surprised when they in turn skip what's generally considered civil and decent, and make you as miserable as they legally can. It's icing on the cake when you've provided most of the facts used to condemn you as Facebook/Myspace posts.

You've got a good grasp on the issues here.

I'd like to add: Did he really think he was going to walk out of there holding a giant octopus without anyone saying a word? It's the kind of thing you'd see showcased at the Seattle Aquarium, you live in WA, you're in an environment where you'd naturally expect to run into conservationists (or at minimum, people with an opposing point of view)...how could you expect Bob or anyone else to say nothing???

The threats are over the top, but Bob didn't do any of that. Those people do more harm than good and take away from the legitimacy of Bob's own conduct.