Last of the Pensacola Spearfishing

[GROUPER321]

Yeah I have to agree with Hetland, not because i spearfish with him, but you want a prime example? Well just go out to the Opps barge and look at the 8 or 10 dead Red Snapper that were hooked by line and got hung and died, the nice gag i shot was hung didnt know it till i pulled him out and had mrxray cut the line thank's, when we aim on a fish; we intend to take it for the right reason's, If i recall correct, we haveent had to throw any fish back. But sometimes i have to push back from the table but thats another story. So it look's like were gonna see some of the large'st fish kills in history, cnn, headline news and fox arent showing you all of the picture on whats being killed from this spill.

 

[scubadog1969]

Well put Groupes321

 

[JPENDERGRAST]

Agreed. The amount of fish taken by spearfishing would be less than negligible if you could compare them to the by-catch numbers of commercial, or even recreational rod and reel, fishermen.

 

[CW2008]

Unless you are a vegan I don't see how anyone could object to spearfishing. Is there a better way to harvest seafood than to go under water and get exactly what you want? For crying out loud, if we shouldn't spearfish then we should all just eat turnip greens.

 

[GROUPER321]

lordamercy

 

[CW2008]

That's right, red neck vegetarian. That's what I would be if I was one. I guess it could be poke salad instead of turnip greens.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Unless you are a vegan I don't see how anyone could object to spearfishing. Is there a better way to harvest seafood than to go under water and get exactly what you want? For crying out loud, if we shouldn't spearfish then we should all just eat turnip greens.

The objection was not to spearfishing. It was to spearfishing in an area where a large part of the population is at high risk from the BP oil spill. Under those particular circumstances, it seems to me to be somewhat unwise to kill even more fish.

 

[Bill Parker]

I had plans to try out spearfishing in that area
but we all may have to wait a long time now
before the area is ready again.

 

[Hetland]

Under those particular circumstances, it seems to me to be somewhat unwise to kill even more fish.

From what I gather:

The critters that can't migrate to areas with sufficient oxygen will die first. These are the critters that make up what amount to our reefs (tunicates, sponges, bivalves, and even a hard coral or two). At the same time, the oil and dispersants will kill and poison the fish eggs, larvae, and planktonic stew that floats near the surface. This effectively removes the bottom two links of the food chain.

Some finfish will be able to successfully migrate to clean areas, but will those new areas remain clear enough to sustain life? That question no one can't answer, but I can say this: Because of the robust artificial reef program, the Mobile/Pensacola areas have more red snapper habitat than anywhere else within 250 miles... in any direction. If every single red snapper made it out of the oil, where would they live? what would they eat? what structure would they orient to for protection from predation? The answer is that many, many fish will die on the trip, and any fish that finds habitat will have to take it over from whatever fish were there originally.

In other words, the few fish the oil kills outright will pale in comparison to the holocaust that will result from oxygen depletion and food chain collapse. Even if our boat took 10,000 red snapper, it's still less than a drop in the bucket. The only difference between the fish that we shot, and the fish that we didn't is that at least the fish that we shot were dispatched quickly, and not poisoned or suffocated slowly, where they would have dropped to the seafloor and rotted in what will amount to a desert.

 

[CW2008]

I think that the number of spearfishermen is also down because of this mess. And I see the logic of what you are saying Dirty-Dog, but I really don't think that it will make much difference. Since there is nothing I can do about any of this, I choose to be optimistic and think that the fishery will recover in a couple of years. And truthfully, many of the creatures were created with the ability to fill a void in population pretty quickly. It really doesn't matter what we think though, it will be whatever it will be, and we are just observers. It is really too depressing to just stare at the face of this, so I really am forcing optimism, and a little poor humor.
I can assure you though, if I find out that anything I am doing is making matters worse, I will quit. Turnips aren't too bad anyway.