How would you handle this?

[MXGratefulDiver]

We've had a pretty amazing response from the dive community and news media. As you saw from the links, two of the three local networks picked up the story ... and the third one's going to be interviewing us today for a follow-up. The effort to move forward with finding a way to protect this area is starting to coalesce, with the support of virtually every dive operation in the area. The young man who took this animal has been banned from virtually every dive shop in the region ... as well as several charter operations and some ops in outlying areas such as Oregon and Vancouver Island.

... and he's posted on one local site that he plans to come back over the week-end and take another octopus from the same site ... frankly I think he's enjoying the publicity.

I do not wish him any harm, or any ill will ... but he seems to want the confrontation with the dive community. And to those who say he has the right, well ... yes he does. But imagine if you lived in a place where a deer came into your yard every day. You got to know it, nurtured it, and friends were coming over every day to see it ... and one day, because he legally could, your neighbor shot it. How would you feel?

That's not hunting, to my concern ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[gypsyjim]

By "wrath" I mean that they are usually engaged in a discussion about what they did and why the rest of the divers would appreciate it if they stopped. I see nothing wrong with expressing my opinion about the fact that just because it's legal doesn't make it right.

We've had a pretty amazing response from the dive community and news media. As you saw from the links, two of the three local networks picked up the story ... and the third one's going to be interviewing us today for a follow-up. The effort to move forward with finding a way to protect this area is starting to coalesce, with the support of virtually every dive operation in the area. The young man who took this animal has been banned from virtually every dive shop in the region ... as well as several charter operations and some ops in outlying areas such as Oregon and Vancouver Island.

... and he's posted on one local site that he plans to come back over the week-end and take another octopus from the same site ... frankly I think he's enjoying the publicity.

I do not wish him any harm, or any ill will ... but he seems to want the confrontation with the dive community. And to those who say he has the right, well ... yes he does. But imagine if you lived in a place where a deer came into your yard every day. You got to know it, nurtured it, and friends were coming over every day to see it ... and one day, because he legally could, your neighbor shot it. How would you feel?

That's not hunting, to my concern ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Locally (by locally I mean often right across the road from my farmhouse) we have had a half albino (piebald I guess they call it) whitetail doe for about 3 years now. I am often made aware that she has come down off the hills to feed near the road, now with her fawn, when I see cars stopping up along the roadside. she has become a local curiosity, and always stops whatever traffic there is on our remote road.

All of the local landowners, and the other hunters we/they allow onto their lands have agreed to not take her, even though doing so is perfectly legal, in season, and with proper permits, which most of us landowners have. Several times when I was hunting I have been close enough to just enjoy watching her, and waiting to see if she becomes aware that I am nearby. Too damned easy to spot her in the woods because of her coloring (White is NOT exactly an A+ in woodland camouflage technique!)

Our local agreement is, of course, not legally binding at all and we all assume that eventually we will lose her to some a.h. like the one you are dealing with. Quite probably it will be done illegally and from a vehicle, just so the a.h. can claim bragging rights for taking a white dear. If it is a legal kill, all we can do is pass along the word that the hunter taking her will never be welcome back on anyone's land to hunt, ever again.

If it is illegal we will do our best to make sure the law is alerted.

 

[rhwestfall]

But imagine if you lived in a place where a deer came into your yard every day. You got to know it, nurtured it, and friends were coming over every day to see it ... and one day, because he legally could, your neighbor shot it. How would you feel?

That's not hunting, to my concern ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Emotional strings being plucked Bob. Keep in mind, your act of "nurturing" in itself can be reason for conviction (feeding wild game is an offence in many locals and, in fact, is unhealthy to the animal).... As to your scenario, lets see.... tresspass, discharge of a firearm within prescribed distance from an occupied dwelling... hmmm - seems nobody is "right"...

Try to keep the focus on the situation at hand. The value of this specific resource. Parallels can be dangerous to your cause if cited incorrectly.

I hope that there is a successful closure to this. It seems to have gotten some positive momentum.

 

[iluvtheocean]

with what i've seen so far -- I definitely think Bob has taken the correct road and hope he succeeds in making it a protected area. It won't stop this guy in him thinking that he's gonna do what he wants to do, but once it's protected then the authorities would be able to do something at that point. The only problem i see with the LDS banning him is his "friends" getting his fills for him but if he and they are known locally then they can be tarred with the same brush so to speak. I'm just waiting for him to get pissed off when he goes into the water again (or tries to) and then comes out and attacks someone when the media are there. from the guy's description on here, he epitomizes the worst stereotype of a redneck frat-boy hunter. And i say stereotype because the vast majority of hunters, redneck or otherwise are responsible hunters.

 

[Fish-R-Man]

This story reminds me a lot of Dr. Bill's experience with individuals legally taking lobsters and other game at Casino Point. I used to dive there in the 70's and there wasn't much there to look at much less take.... The close proximity to the Avalon anchorage made it an easy dive to row a skiff over to. Over the years it developed into a voluntary no-take zone very similar to dive sights around Seattle.

After a few instances of divers taking game from the Casino Point area, through efforts of concerned individuals, I believe that they were able to get Casino Point part of various closed areas in the Channel Islands.

This type of publicity would be a great place to start to get these areas around Seattle protected. There is no need to ban the legal and ethical taking of game, but some times sights likes these need that added protection from unethical individuals.

 

[freewillie]

We've had a pretty amazing response from the dive community and news media. As you saw from the links, two of the three local networks picked up the story ... and the third one's going to be interviewing us today for a follow-up. The effort to move forward with finding a way to protect this area is starting to coalesce, with the support of virtually every dive operation in the area. The young man who took this animal has been banned from virtually every dive shop in the region ... as well as several charter operations and some ops in outlying areas such as Oregon and Vancouver Island.

... and he's posted on one local site that he plans to come back over the week-end and take another octopus from the same site ... frankly I think he's enjoying the publicity.

I do not wish him any harm, or any ill will ... but he seems to want the confrontation with the dive community. And to those who say he has the right, well ... yes he does. But imagine if you lived in a place where a deer came into your yard every day. You got to know it, nurtured it, and friends were coming over every day to see it ... and one day, because he legally could, your neighbor shot it. How would you feel?

That's not hunting, to my concern ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

It would depend on the reason why my neighbor shot the deer. If he needed the meat to feed his family I would have absolutely no objections to his hunting the deer. If he did it for no good reason and laughed about shooting the deer I would be incensced over the killing.

It also comes down to the respect of another living creature. Most of us eat meat and are not strict vegetarians. We should all acknowledge how and where our steaks and chicken and fish come from. But we need to eat to live. But to simply kill another creature for fun is just wrong. I doubt this person is eating his octopus on a daily basis which was his first wisecrack about being able to take one. He simply enjoys taking a life. And from Bob's description of a still living octopus writhing in the back of a pick up is correct he seems almost sadistic. That is just wrong. And the creatures should be protected since they can't protect themselves.

Unfortunately, as in life in general, the vast majority of responsible individuals may suffer from the exploits of a small number idiots who just can't behave.

 

[MattJ]

So I don't know a great deal about GPOs, but it appears she weighed 70 pounds and was 9 feet across. If it's illegal to use weapons or tools to take them, how did he manage to get her out of the water at all? Was she in an extremely weakened state already from guarding her eggs? Seems like an octopus that size defending herself and her eggs would give a diver all he could handle and then some.

 

[lowviz]

Dam, this thread is crazy.... i thought the Scuba Police were a myth but i guess most of us where way wrong about that. ...//...

You seem to have been correct. The Scuba Police appear to be a myth. This is a total failure of hunters being unable or unwilling to police their own kind. Big surprise, someone else will step in to do this for them.

Almost every ocean dive I've been on was shared with hunters. Responsible hunters. They keep each other honest and as such, we coexist quite nicely. The diver in question appears to flaunt the fact that he can kill, and keep killing, sea creatures that are held dear by the local diving population. This is simply antisocial behavior at its worst, nothing at all to do with hunting. Now hot emotions and broadly written legislation will rule.

My message to responsible hunters is that this site will most likely be closed to ALL hunting. Period. Forever. You lost a big one. All will soon be well again. And the next site will be that much easier to close...

Outrageous behavior is the easiset and fastest way to get a site closed by knee-jerk reactions to morons, especially so, when an obvious and easy fix promises to make the entire problem go away. This should be fun to watch. Lead-pipe cinch.

If I were a hunter in that region, I'd be making damn sure that this particular aberration went back to school. But I don't really care. I'm not a hunter and this only affects me indirectly. Soon it will just be "You can't legally do that either". Fine, I wasn't planning to. Just another minor loss of my potential freedoms.

A thought for both hunters dive shops:
How many marine preserves get re-opened to hunting?

 

[spoolin01]

It clearly looks like the diver in this case has earned himself some blowback. But for me, his transgression was taking the female off the nest, and his apparent wantonness, not hunting itself, or even necessarily hunting where he did. I support giving the lookie-loos their spots, the same as hunters/fishers, but popularity alone with one camp or the other doesn't bootstrap a site into the exclusive domain of either.

 

[boulderjohn]

So I don't know a great deal about GPOs, but it appears she weighed 70 pounds and was 9 feet across. If it's illegal to use weapons or tools to take them, how did he manage to get her out of the water at all? Was she in an extremely weakened state already from guarding her eggs? Seems like an octopus that size defending herself and her eggs would give a diver all he could handle and then some.

As I understand it, once the eggs are laid, the octopus guarding the nest does not eat until the eggs hatch. By the time that happens, the octopus is almost dead. Her last living act is helping the newly hatched babies go out into the world.