(another two cents worth...Hey, if we add up all these "two cents" we could fund the sinking of ANOTHER artificial reef! Idea!)
This topic is being roasted, diced, chewed, regurgitated, masticated some more, choked down, digested, and...well, you know what happens next in biological terms, right? Let's try to put things in the simplest terms...
Safety is job one for a dive operator. That much is agreed upon by just about everyone with no quibbling. Ensuring that clients have the opportunity to enjoy their dives is also a high priority. However, somewhere down the line, charter operators have a responsibility to the very sites to which they are delivering their clients. Those are, of course, the mainstay of the livelihood for the operator after all. Without the sites to draw the business, then the operators would have no one to whom to cater. Therefore, operators (Captain Tim included) are honor bound to preserve and protect the sites they are "borrowing" from others in order to make a living. To neglect this is something akin to piracy on the open seas, in my opinion (which is nearly worthless, so save your cents).
I can only guage Captain Tim's actions (the ones he himself professes) by those of captains I know. I can only imagine Captain Ken's (Gulf of Mexico) response at seeing a diver return to the surface with a big chunk of coral off the Flower Gardens. I imagine it would be something like "Well, it's a long swim back to Freeport (110 miles, in fact). I have no doubt someone's wetsuit would have a big hole somewhere just below the end of his tank.
I firmly believe that should be the response of all dive operators who frequent special places such as coral reefs and artifical reefs. We need more operators who will stand up for the industry from which they make their living. As the old saying goes, "if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." (also copied in a C&W song, I think...) Captian Tim cites "lack of experience" from people who call him into question as if one must earn the right to question the actions of a professional. It takes no experience at all to know right from wrong. We teach that in kindergarten--taking something that is not yours is wrong. If you help someone to take that item, you are wrong, too. The fact that Captain Tim has a long career in diving, the U.S. military, and has had close contact with famous environmentalists and dive "heroes" does not relieve him from the generally accepted standards (such as "leave it as you found it"). It confers upon him MORE responsibility, not less. He is helping to set the standard with the way he operates his boat. While he may not believe so, he OWES it to the memory of these pioneers,the ones who served on the Oriskany, their families and the general diving community to help maintain the site from which he makes his living.
I am not attacking the captain. However, I deplore the attitude that just because "everyone is doing it" somehow makes it right to aid and abet someone who is doing something wrong. I also question the philosophy that "I can't be wrong becuase I've been in the business a long time." What all these threads are saying is that the vast majority of the diving community feel a wrong has been committed, and we'd certainly like to see the wrongdoing stop.
sorry about the soap box...I'll try to refrain from climbing up on it again.