Octopus Rodeos?

[tursiops]

Hell no. Ed Robinson's has a DM famous for digging out octos. Happened when I was with them and I won't go back.

Don't know when this happened, but I'd guess if Ed knew that, the DM would be fired.

 

[AZTinman]

Hmmmm... been to the Big Island three times in the past year and a half and done dives with four different dive ops. I never saw any of the divemaster/guides manhandle any octopus or eels.

-AZTinman

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Why doesn't this ever come to the attention of PADI? There should be consequences I would think...

I am not aware of PADI even attempting to crack down what I believe is an extremely common practice. I've made it a point to stop dive guides and wag my finger at them when they harass sea life.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Don't know when this happened, but I'd guess if Ed knew that, the DM would be fired.

It happened in late January of 2015. From another thread on a similar topic, someone else posted (don't remember who) that they observed the same thing from the same DM.

 

[KauaiScuba]

You will never see that behavior with staff at "Explore Kauai Scuba". We are all seasoned instructors and hate seeing our lil octodudes being ripped out of their home! So sad!

 

[RyanT]

You will never see that behavior with staff at "Explore Kauai Scuba". We are all seasoned instructors and hate seeing our lil octodudes being ripped out of their home! So sad!

Thanks Kauai Scuba! There is simply no excuse for that kind of behavior. I know who'll I'll be booking with when I visit Hawaii.

 

[Rocknrone]

Island divers of Hawaii did that on one of my trips. However the individual is no longer working there. (still wouldn't go back)

 

[AquamanKauai]

I can offer insight on this topic from around 25 years of diving here in the islands. There are several different issues. I don't think anyone does this with the intention of harming the octopus, but unknowingly (or at least potentially) does just that. Hang with me for a minute as I realize that "intent" is certainly not the complete issue. I embarrassingly admit that as a new DM over 15 years ago would often coax octopus out of holes on my tours. This stemmed from an experience I had as a newly certified diver visiting Hawaii many years ago. I was on a tour here and an experienced DM was passing myself and others an octopus underwater. The experience was pretty amazing to me at the time - and not knowing better I passed it off as just another exciting part of the trip. Everyone raved at how exciting it was to feel and hold the octopus. It was like a real world version of the Sea World touch pools. Continuing as an uneducated DM in my early years I didn't see this or consider my behaviors potential harm to the octopus. Sadly and just as importantly, I certainly didn't think about the terrible example I was setting. I had senior DM's train me and watched them do this over and over. Even one of the dive shop owners I worked for. Becoming more educated in my first couple years of divemastering I learned just how stressing and potentially harmful this behavior was. Obviously I would never dream of exhibiting these actions again. Octopus live very short lives to begin with and the ink is their critical to their survival. Predators include jacks, monk seals, sharks and eels. If the octopus does ink it potentially left without a critical component to it's survival and it takes an extended period of time to reproduce. That's not even addressing the habitat displacement or stress on the animal. Anyway, I have made it a point to express this in my daily brief when speaking about being eco-friendly. We can all educate and learn more to change this behavior. I think in the last 20 years through education diving has become more much more eco-friendly. That being said this is obviously still seen. I know that among my peers now - this is looked upon as a terrible and inexcusable action. Whether it (handling octopus) is done naively, innocently, or otherwise it should not be condoned and I believe in diving today that is the case among respected companies and their professionals.- Posts like this on Scubaboard are fantastic to get the discussion going so more people will become educated and hopefully not make the mistakes I did.

I know that many of the shops throughout Hawaii have a strict no touch policy tough others carry the attitude of ' As long as nobody complains, we don't care.' As posted here, you'll see some shops like Explore Kauai Scuba come out and clearly state their focus on being eco-freindly and no touch policy.

Rocknrone sends a pretty clear message that many experienced divers have - Harass = don't go back.

If you see this or any kind of behavior by a divemaster you should take a moment to voice your displeasure with them. If not let the manager or owner know. That doesn't mean you have to post a scathing report on trip advisor, but rather look at it as an opportunity to educate. It may just change that individuals behavior - or even company policy. In my opinion the Eco-Friendly policy is becoming the norm because of issues just like this. Thanks for this post and those who added. I hope if nothing else my posting keeps this issue in the spotlight another day.

Cheers to everyone who added thoughts
A

 

[scubadada]

I used an operator in Oahu, once, who harassed octopuses. I expressed my displeasure and did not return.

 

[scubadada]

Here you go, shame on them
Hawaii diving with the RX100 II