Riviera Maya spearing and diving any help would help

[whoji]

I stayed at Dream over Xmas. Bloody great bunch of guys.

Danny and william know the reefs like the back of their hand.

And as for Cenotes there is nothing Kiwi cant help you with.

They put everything on a tab for you at the beginning if your stay, Its $40 1 tank ocean $70 for 2.

Cenotes are $70 1 tank and $120 for 2.

The best thing is the dive center is on the beach of the hotel and as its all inclusive and not run by americans (Tim is a Brit) they dont expect a tip!

 

[thorndog]

Masterlucas,
I am going to get up on my soapbox now.
As far as I know, the US is about the only place in the civilized world that allows spearfishing on Scuba. I guess you must be from there.
The coast along Puerto Morelos for a long stretch, 28 kms I think it is, is all a marine conservation area. Get caught there spearing and you will end up in a heap of trouble. Of course for a price, you can always find someone to break the law.
A rule has recently been added, for sure at least in the Tulum area, that forbids spearfishing of any sort even by the licensed local commercial fishermen who are in the union. Apparently they were right pissed off.
You should know that spearfishing is the most harmful form of fishing to the reef that exists. Spearfishermen almost always target the largest fish on the reef whaich are of course by far the most productive. They also tend to target particular species i.e. Groupers and Hogfish causing decimations of their populations and sometimes wiping them out by removing the populations ability to breed adequately to survive predation, normal juvenile mortality and the spearing itself.
This can all be substantiated by thousands of studies and scientific papers etc. Anybody can PM me if they want some examples.
Attitudes towards our reefs and oceans need to change, and soon or else furture generations will only here myths about the greatly decimated reefs we already have today. Go take a dive in most Dominican waters or worse off Port au Prince Haiti if you want to see dead reefs as a result of overfishing.
A ten kg Grouper produces 97 times more eggs than a 1 kg Grouper and it takes a long time for a fish to grow to 10 kg, maybe 20 years so we need big fish on the reefs.
Divers often complain that there are no big fish on our reefs and then half of them go off and eat fish tacos, figure that one out.
If I were to see you spear fishing down here, I promise you I would turn you in. Why don't you leave your gear at home, or even better, destroy it and take up photography instead.
thorndog

 

[VooDooGasMan]

So your saying no spearfishing freediving.

 

[thorndog]

I'm saying a few things, but the local fishermen in Tulum are pissed off and it's been in the papers that they can no longer spearfish. Not sure the details but I will find out and give a more complete answer if you like.
Regardless of the laws, spearfishing is extremely harmful to reefs, period and I can back this up with lots of facts and arguments. This is a very contentious issue obviously.
If a few people went chasing a few grunts and little snappers then the harm would be minimal from skilled fishermen, however everyone is after trophy fish or lots of meat and these older, larger fish are the most important breeders. People need to think a bit more about the consequences of what they are doing.
One obvious effect is that there are less larger, interesting fish for us divers to see and that is important to the dive business as well as the enjoyment of the individual. Most non protected reefs anywhere have very few groupers left for instance.
Any way I look at it, killing fish indiscriminately and especially targeting individual large fish or particular species is bad for the ecosystem, bad for the dive business and bad for diver's enjoyment.
Tell me if you don't think I'm making sense.

 

[whoji]

I agree, Tulum reefs are lively but not exactly brimming, partly because of the Hurricane in august.
Last time I was there one day we saw three large grouper, a rare occurrance it seemed, but i was told it was quite a regular sight a few years ago.

Personally i couldnt say if its because of fishing methods.

My view point on any kind of one man fishing, if you cant eat it in one sitting dont kill it.

 

[Wiilldd1]

Please respond with more information on the laws. Is it the same for the pacific also?

 

[df-oregon]

Please stop spreading misleading information about spearfishing. Any post that starts with "I believe" is really wortless. There is a law. Nothing to believe or not believe in. Simply google "Fishing regulations in Mexico" and save everyones time.
Spearfishing is legal in Mexico and requires a fishing license. Band or spear only. Catch limit is half of the angling limit ( 5 fish per day).

The guy who promised to turn everyone in for spearfishing needs to do some basic reading first. Fish population does not decline because of spearfishing or sport fishing at all - just check the facts. Comercial fishing - ? - may be, but not the sport one. Coral reefs die because temperature of the ocean is rising. Fish population declines everywhere. The fish is smaller and less abundand in Carribean and in Pacific North West. Good luck seeing a speargun fisherman in 40F water off the cost of Oregon and blame him for the luck of fish.