Manufacturer condones Warsaw Grouper slaughter

[Jeff Toorish]

When it's time to buy my BP/W, it will be a zeagle. It's called a 'reverse boycott.' :05:

The fact is, words like murder, slaughter, unique are stock in trade for environmental extremists. I know, I have fought them on many fronts. They try to stir up emotion before you get a chance to look at the facts.

It's nice to see it didn't work around here.

Safe Diving

Jeff

 

[peterbkk]

Sorry people, definitely not a troll. I am a regular member of this board. I thought that the issue was worth debating.

I will retract the word "murder". It is the wrong word and too inflamatory.

I am most certainly not an "eco-terrorist". But I am concerned about the ocean and the damage that the human race is currently doing to it. My biggest concern is commercial over-fishing. I am concerned about the damage to reefs in any form. I am worried that my grandchildren will never be able to see what we can see now.

I have never raised an issue like this before in any forum. But, this discussion is not about me and I am disappointed that some responders decided that they should flame me personally rather than express their viewpoint on the topic raised.

The divers in the article did not appear to me to be spearfishing for commercial reasons. I do not believe that it makes commercial sense to scuba dive to 425 feet to catch a fish. It appeared to me that they were mainly motivated by "sport", with the consumption / sale of the fish as a by-product of the event.

My concern about the article was mainly about the image that such an article projects to the world about the scuba-diving community. Hence my concern that a scuba-diving manufacturer, a core member of the community, was apparently supporting / condoning the event.

If we, the scuba-diving community, do not fight for the protection of the oceans, then who will. In this article we have a group of divers, condoned by a major manufacturer, proud of killing an endangered fish. Does it send a message to the world that we don't care either? is there a "scuba-diving community"? Do we have a common viewpoint on marine conservation?

I was hoping that we could have an intelligent debate without all the emotional flaming. Please respond to the issue and do not just blast away at me.

Regards
Peter

 

[peterbkk]

Anyone notice that we're 5 pages of comments along and the orginal poster has yet to weigh in anywhere?

Can you say "Sock-Puppet"? :

Please do not be rude. I was asleep. I posted the original post at 8pm Thailand time, went to bed at 10pm and woke up at 7am to find that I have been seriously flamed.

But I have now posted a response trying to clarify the issue that concerns me.

Let's be nice!

Regards
Peter

 

[jonnythan]

Someone who dives to 425 feet, spears a giant fish, hauls it up, and sells the meat has a heck of a lot more of my respect than someone who drags a 425 foot wide net behind a giant ship and kills and sells whatever it catches.

One of these is a lot more environmentally responsible than the other..

 

[jonnythan]

Is this thread making anybody else hungry?

Recipes for cooking grouper

LOL

 

[TwoBitTxn]

It still boils down...

What this man and his group did was perfectly legal in the US. He accomplished a feat that very few people wold be capable of accomplishing at great risk to himself. I admire what he did. The warsaw grouper is not classified as endangered. There are bag limits in the US. I don't beleve he exceeded those limits.

TwoBit

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Andy, are the limits daily limits or possession limits? At least in Texas, there is a difference.

TwoBit

 

[Kim]

In all fairness to Peter I think we have a bit of cultural difference going on here. Spearfishing is very popular in the States and the points made about the fact that it is far more selective than commercial fishing - long lines, trawling etc, are very valid. However in many other parts of the world it has gone very much out of fashion, or has been banned completely. I've seen enough threads on SB supporting the 'look don't touch' rule to know that most everyone IS environmentally conscious and they can get quite hot under the collar if they feel they are being accused otherwise!

Zeagle sells almost exclusively to the American market and so deals with American values primarily. As such it struck me as more of an advert as to how good their gear performs at great depth - and in unusual circumstances. Maybe Scott Zeagle will have more to say when he gets back from DEMA, I don't know.
However I would be much more surprised to see the same kind of thing from Scubapro or Mares etc, who sell to a world wide market. I think that they would understand that the whole world diving community can have rather different views on spearfishing. Somewhere like the Andamans where Peter is based gets so many divers on relatively few divesites that if activities like spearfishing were allowed there would be nothing left after a very short time. This is culturally very different to the States so I can see why the first post of this thread put a lot of peoples backs up. However I don't think it's fair to accuse Peter of being a 'eco-terrorist' or 'PETA' freak considering where he is based. I'd feel more inclined to believe that if he lived in Florida and posted something similar.
At the end of the day we all know that we have to look after our resources in case we lose them. Folks have a differing approach sometimes...that's all.

 

[archman]

As an aside, is it common practice for commercial fishermen to charter themselves out to recreational fishers? I've never heard of this before.

 

[Johnoly]

Zeagle sells almost exclusively to the American market and so deals with American values primarily.

Actually they have a huge reputation world wide, especially among governmental agencies, like police and fire departments. They are not the cheapest brand on the market, but you get what you pay for. As I said before, I'll ignore the troll on spearfishing. Their gear is excellent on performance!