I’m never using a BC again!

[tarponchik]

Because you’re smashing males along with females broadcasting everything into the water column at the same time. When we harvest them you can even see a last ditch effort by them to spawn. You can see the eggs come out of the females on top of the shell and the milk out of the males on top of the shell. But this is on dry land when they finally realize they are in trouble but it’s too late, they are in buckets.
They do this under duress even when they are smashed, they don’t die right away.
Do you have a PhD in this area of study to make such an assertion? Because the people who are telling us not to cull them do.

This is not a question of me having a degree, but a question whether this has been proven experimentally. If no such experiment had ever been done, no degree in any branch of science can guarantee you from BS.

Seems pretty straightforward, right? Take a reasonably large fish tank inhabited by some local fish , do not feed the fish for several days so they get hungry, then cull a couple dozen of urchins into this tank and watch if any little bastards will grow up afterwards. Record results in your log book and write a paper!

 

[tarponchik]

Re the whole process of collecting urchins, why don't you guys work in team with non-divers? Instead of going through the trouble of getting out of water in your gear with heavy bags and struggling with the surf, you can attach the bag to a balloon when it is full. Then someone in snorkeling gear can swim and pick up the bag when it floats up.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Re the whole process of collecting urchins, why don't you guys work in team with non-divers? Instead of going through the trouble of getting out of water in your gear with heavy bags and struggling with the surf, you can attach the bag to a balloon when it is full. Then someone in snorkeling gear can swim and pick up the bag when it floats up.

Did you miss this part?
“As I approached the beach the surge and beach break took the bags away from me and shore support got them out.”

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

This is not a question of me having a degree, but a question whether this has been proven experimentally. If no such experiment had ever been done, no degree in any branch of science can guarantee you from BS.

Seems pretty straightforward, right? Take a reasonably large fish tank inhabited by some local fish , do not feed the fish for several days so they get hungry, then cull a couple dozen of urchins into this tank and watch if any little bastards will grow up afterwards. Record results in your log book and write a paper!

They are doing the science now. Until I hear otherwise I will refer to what they tell me. I’m not in a position to claim I know more than them and buck their authority.
I think they do what you describe at the Bodega Marine Lab but probably a lot more involved.

 

[SlugLife]

So no more wings or bc for me on these dives. Don’t need it.

Seems reasonable to me. I'd only suggest having SOME form of flotation with you, such as a lift-bag, DSMB, or even SMB. Some of the old-timers here like to talk about how they didn't use BCDs when they started out, so it's nothing too crazy.

I have a plastic/polymer backpack, without a wing, that has a slightly similar shape to your freedom-plate (though nowhere near as nice). I've been meaning to try river-diving using that "backpack" setup,.

 

[Oldmanmatt]

Seems reasonable to me. I'd only suggest having SOME form of flotation with you, such as a lift-bag, DSMB, or even SMB. Some of the old-timers here like to talk about how they didn't use MCDs when they started out, so it's nothing too crazy.

I have a plastic/polymer backpack, without a wing, that has a slightly similar shape to your freedom-plate (though nowhere near as nice). I've been meaning to try river-diving using that "backpack" setup,.

Ah the ABLJ and back plate.
You could remove your Air Bottle Life Jacket, roll it up and slip it into bungees on the plate, to avoid damage. Such as when delving into pots to liberate (cough, steal, cough) lobster. Which I may or may not have done as a kid. I don’t recall being as concerned about buoyancy or not touching the bottom in those days. A time before I was certified. No octopus then either.

 

[happy-diver]

Yeah you could but who would and don't you strap the Adjustable Buoyancy Life jacket on first


last anything you'd ever do-steal if you did it around here

 

[Oldmanmatt]

Yeah you could but who would and don't you strap the Adjustable Buoyancy Life jacket on first


last anything you'd ever do-steal if you did it around here

Dude, it wasn’t a recommendation.
In our little remote corner or the world (then(Cornwall)) the fishermen were our fathers, cousins and uncles.
Actually, my old man was the local copper (and a “foreigner” from Devon), so it was my Mum’s family that fished.
Getting a smack round the back of the head, a few days of mending nets/pots or gutting Herring, was what awaited you if you got caught. After all, it wasn’t anything they hadn’t done as kids.

However, on topic, properly managed and in the described circumstances of the OP; the no BCD dive is not unreasonable, but could be made safer by carrying a floatation device.

Edit: I also recall some of the older divers, who began diving with no buoyancy device at all, diving with the ABLJ on crotch and waist strap only, rolled and bungeed at the waist and only slipped over their heads on the surface. Only the weight belt went on after the ABLJ.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

However, on topic, properly managed and in the described circumstances of the OP; the no BCD dive is not unreasonable, but could be made safer by carrying a floatation device.

I have a lift bag already, and if I really need to be positively buoyant I’d drop my weightbelt.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Seems reasonable to me. I'd only suggest having SOME form of flotation with you, such as a lift-bag, DSMB, or even SMB. Some of the old-timers here like to talk about how they didn't use MCDs when they started out, so it's nothing too crazy.

I have a plastic/polymer backpack, without a wing, that has a slightly similar shape to your freedom-plate (though nowhere near as nice). I've been meaning to try river-diving using that "backpack" setup,.

I always have a lift bag for these work dives, but I am weighted such that I can float on the surface even with a full tank, so all I need to do is be able to kick up and I know I can float on the surface. And then of course if all hell breaks lose (I don’t know what scenario would constitute that?) I just drop my weightbelt and I’m out of there.
We are only working in 15’ max depth at this time so the surface is not far away.
The lack of clutter is what really makes no bc diving nice. In this case less is way more. More can just get in the way of agility. Even the lack of a skinny wing made a difference when the water rushes by you, inflated or not it’s still there causing some drag and the inflator hose is another thing flopping around in the way. And like I said, why bring it if it never actually gets used? I just risk chafing it up, poking a hole in it when the surge swings me into to a wall loaded with urchins, etc.
If you want to try it, go in light and add weight as needed. You’ll have to tip forward and swim down. Forget about laying sky diver style waddling around, that’s not what wingless diving is about. Keep your body straight and see how efficiently you can glide forward. Think freediving posture in the water, except you can breathe.