Spearfishing with a rebreather

[baggysalls]

How come i see people spearfishing with scuba gear(rebreathers) allover youtube??

 

[cmburch]

I have never seen a rebreather.

There is a section on this board for rebreathers.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/rebreather-diving/

 

[Biminibill]

How come i see people spearfishing with scuba gear(rebreathers) allover youtube??

You can see all kinds of stuff on Youtube. Rebreathers aren't banned from spearfishing everywhere and as well there are plenty of people who either don't care about the law or are ignorant of it.

 

[Scott L]

How come i see people spearfishing with scuba gear(rebreathers) allover youtube??

Post a few. I am guessing they in countries other than the USA or in federal waters such as the Gulf Middle Grounds...

 

[TechBlue]

Here in Spain it is illegal to spearfish on any form of scuba, but that being said it is a convoluted law because the the only reason they need to pursue conservatism is because the fishermen have and continue to fish the waters to extinction.

 

[SilentDeepHunter]

In Mexico waters only allowed to spearfish while freediving, it would be nice to use a rebreather.

 

[Baracuda Smile]

The South Atlantic Fishery management Council banned the use of rebreathers for spearfishing in the South Atlantic EEZ many years ago. Rebreathers are illegal for any kind of consumptive harvest in Florida State waters and apply to ornamental harvest in Federal waters off Florida on both coasts under the "adjacent state waters rules apply" provision of the Magnuson- Stevens Act.

As for using rebreathers to spearfish or other harvest there are several reasons why this is a bad idea. First: Too much access to the resource both by the advantage of increased stealth and long duration will lead to overharvest issues both biologically and politically (divers vs. hook and liners). Second: Diving a rebreather requires steady attention to unit operation in order to be used safely even in the best of conditions. Spearfishing often increases task loading to the point that the diver will allow proper monitoring of the rebreather to be compromised. The "All's fair in love and war" statement is irrelevant and ignores reality. Fighting a big fish can lead to rapid depth changes, digging fish out of holes, etc, all things that require special attention to the rebreather that are not neaded for open circuit diving. Pre-occupation with what you're doing can lead to catastrophic events. Two deaths occurred on rebreathers off Broward County several years ago. The first was a guy collecting tropical fish illegally and the other was someone spearfishing illegally. While no one solved the mystery of what happened to the fish collector there is no doubt that the spearfisherman was the victim of too much task loading.

It takes a disciplined mindset to properly use a rebreather. It's not for everyone. Careful and detailed rebreather maintenance before and after each diving day at a high level is a requirement that doesn't apply to open circuit. There's an ocean of difference between strapping on a bottle on open circuit and donning a rebreather. There are many divers who, used to the ease of open circuit diving, will rush maintenance of the their rebreather unit or skip it altogether

If rebreathers are allowed for spearfishing and more people get into using them there will be more deaths which will end up bringing in unwanted government restrictions on ther use. If people use the stealth capability to pound the hell out of fish, particularly on popular dive and fishing sites the units will get a further black eye leading to still more government intervention.

Finally, if people spearfish for sport then consider that using a rebreather and parking your bubbleless tail in a cranny to wait for fish to dumbly swim up so you can pop them can hardly be considered sport. If your goal is simply to boat as many fish as you can as easily as you can then become a commercial fisherman. If hunting for the sport of it is your goal then hewn your skills to make yourself successful with open circuit. Leave the rebreather on the shelf.

Yes, I do own a rebreather.

Biminibill

I will keep my eye out for the underwater police. The last time I checked the US Constitution our founding fathers wanted to give us all liberties, to include the right to bear arms to include slings. I agree that catch limits are the way to regulate the fishing industry not the meathod of catch. Just like hunting it does not matter how you kill the deer, but rather how many deer are killed. In RB3 Forum it is recommended that all rebreathers have an OC bailout. So it comes down to training and RB's are safer as you have OC, SC RB, and Manual bailouts if trained properly. The bottom line is Bill you are frobidding people to gather food, and where else in America do laws like this exist?

 

[BVickery]

My question is would this preclude people on re breathers taking lionfish at depth with a traditional pole spear here in FL?

The whole thing about shooting the normal game fish I could see, but the deeper wrecks I've heard hold a lot more lionfish, seems to be almost like a breeding ground for them (light hunting pressure lots of food).

 

[manni-yunk]

rebreather diving while spearfishing/underwater hunting is legal, and common in NJ. There is no significant difference between the size and amount of fish these guys get on any given dive and what I get on OC (deco diving). we all follow the same bag limits. We all follow the same laws - and mostly, their bottom time is not that much more than mine.

That being said, any of us - OC or CC - could limit out on ANY dive. The difference that is not being taken into consideration is the overwhelmingly common standard amongst spearfishermen "only kill what I eat, always eat what I kill".


It is absurd to suggest that a rebreather can have any significant impact on fish populations considering commercial gear wipes out entire schools, entire reefs, and entire boatloads at a time. The impact of recreational, law abiding, fisherman - whether it is rod/reel, spear - or any other means......is so miniscule in the grand scheme of things - that to waste time creating, lobbying for, and enforcing these laws is nothing other than misguided, mislead, and uninformed.

 

[BVickery]

rebreather diving while spearfishing/underwater hunting is legal, and common in NJ. There is no significant difference between the size and amount of fish these guys get on any given dive and what I get on OC (deco diving). we all follow the same bag limits. We all follow the same laws - and mostly, their bottom time is not that much more than mine.

That being said, any of us - OC or CC - could limit out on ANY dive. The difference that is not being taken into consideration is the overwhelmingly common standard amongst spearfishermen "only kill what I eat, always eat what I kill".


It is absurd to suggest that a rebreather can have any significant impact on fish populations considering commercial gear wipes out entire schools, entire reefs, and entire boatloads at a time. The impact of recreation, law abiding, fisherman - whether it is rod/reel, spear - or any other means......is so miniscule in the grand scheme of things - that to waste time creating, lobbying for, and enforcing these laws is nothing other than misguided, mislead, and uninformed.

The problem a lot of times is you don't have objective scientists working on the committee's that draft the laws these days. You either have the environmental whackjob who is actually clueless about wildlife and basis decisions on feelings and 'feel good' type legislation or surrogates for the fishing industry. I've seen the whackjobs up in New England (they actually wanted the town to pay to transplant about 40 deer out of the city at a cost of $26,000 PER deer opposed to hunting them) and the fishing industry stooges here in Florida and red snapper season/catch.