Man fired from diving job after seen holding protected species

[boulderjohn]

I recently spent nearly 3 weeks diving in Palau, in the heart of the western Pacific--the natural home of the lionfish. In those 3 weeks, I saw a grand total of 2 lionfish, and both of them were teeny. I did see a lot of sharks and large groupers (which are protected), so perhaps that is the reason.

 

[Christi]

Of course he was trying to cover his hiney... and was guilty for what he did. His nationality should't play into that at all imho ... I felt a bit strange by it being mentioned not as an offense, but sort of with the offense .... unless the law says only Mexican nationals can work as DM @Christi , maybe you could clarify?

AND, so what about that Playa dive operation? How do the teeth of your rules cut into them? Or was it established that they had indeed not possibly sent that DM / boar "tour poaching" into the marine park. Might it be posdible they are the instigator and het away rather cheap by using their frontline soldiers for cannonfudder as needed? Are we sure that the act of firing the dive guide adresses the heart of the problem... Or might it possibly be another hiney covering act, just one level higher up and not by a Frenchman?

I have no dog in that race but am curious if the investigating goes beyond the guy with the hand in the cookie jar to try to determine if maybe there was an employer that said "you need to bring me some cookies...". I.e. are there any conversations with the DM asking if he was sent into the marine park by the shop (which shurely should have a way of verifying if he does or does not have a valid license... and ditto for the boat... was he on a boat with a valid license? Or not? A boat from that shop or not?)... or if he was going there breaking all the shops rules (presuming they support the various rules of the greater area) as well?
I simply mean shouldn't there be more to this story than just the DM? (boat, "captain", shop)...

His nationality was brought in simply to illustrate that he was not a local guide - there was nothing racist nor any racist intent to the post. For a foreigner to get a work VISA as a guide it's not easy at all - I'm not going to go into all of the requirements. They also must have a Marine Park Credential authorizing them to work in the Cozumel Marine Park - which requires him to be legal in the first place - which he wasn't.

He's just as guilty as the dive shop for working illegally. As a foreigner seeking work in another country, it is one's responsibility to know the legal requirements and be in compliance. Ignorance of the laws is not protection. AS a business and an employer, it is also their job to know the employment laws and be in compliance.

AS for him manhandling or "tickling" the toadfish that "swam to him" - I can't say one way or the other if the dive shop he was working for condoned this behavior - but he shouldn't have been on the boat in the first place.

From what I understand the dive shop also received a warning and maybe a fine for being in the park without permits.

There are several Playa shops who come over for the day without permits, but we see an imminent end to this.

 

[Schwob]

His nationality was brought in simply to illustrate that he was not a local guide - there was nothing racist nor any racist intent to the post. For a foreigner to get a work VISA as a guide it's not easy at all - I'm not going to go into all of the requirements. They also must have a Marine Park Credential authorizing them to work in the Cozumel Marine Park - which requires him to be legal in the first place - which he wasn't.

He's just as guilty as the dive shop for working illegally. As a foreigner seeking work in another country, it is one's responsibility to know the legal requirements and be in compliance. Ignorance of the laws is not protection. AS a business and an employer, it is also their job to know the employment laws and be in compliance.

AS for him manhandling or "tickling" the toadfish that "swam to him" - I can't say one way or the other if the dive shop he was working for condoned this behavior - but he shouldn't have been on the boat in the first place.

From what I understand the dive shop also received a warning and maybe a fine for being in the park without permits.

There are several Playa shops who come over for the day without permits, but we see an imminent end to this.

Thanks Christi.
A fine would be a good start.
Living in a country where the "illegals" seem to get demonized, while the businesses hiring them seemingly get away with a slap on the wrist, I of course maybe should not even comment...

 

[WOODMAN]

I have a series of pictures somewhere where I was watching my divemaster spear lionfish, and within seconds after he got a nice one an enormous queen triggerfish appeared out of nowhere and just hovered there about a yard away from him, waiting. I got a couple of nice shots while he was working the lion off his spear with a knife, and as soon as the lion floated free of the spear the queen had him and was over the side of the reef and out of sight. It was so fast I couldn't get a picture of anything except the divemaster with an empty spear. Sorry if I was a little off topic here, but the comments about lionfish spearing brought this back to mind.

 

[Aviyes]

I do get an impression of anything goes for tourist bucks attitude from the local though, when I visited Isla Mujeres & Los Cabos. Here are a couple examples:
1. While following a local dive guide underwater, the guide caught a pufferfish & made it pumped water to blow itself up like a balloon. I was a bit disgusted.
2. Then I saw in the souvenir market those blown-up pufferfish hanging as ornaments.

I saw the same thing when I was diving off DR and was equally disgusted. I ignored him any time he touched and tried to show any marine life. No tips for the DM that day. Video diver got zero attention from me post dive, as he had terrible buoyancy/situational awareness and kept hitting the reefs while taping.