Spearfishing with scuba

[dogblues64]

Cool, I don't mind mixing it up with someone that knows..!! I just like keeping it real in a world were we have way too much bull*****! If you know what I mean..??

 

[matts1w]

... a spearo wouldn't want a Jewfish, Conch and Turtle were the delicacy and both were legal to hunt. Conch were plentiful just off the beach and Turtle could be had in any local restaurant!

Good lord. Dont start talking about hunting turtles.

 

[Wayward Son]

Yep, I know. But the keys aren't the only place that has jewfish. Plenty of them up in the panhandle, all up the gulf coast, not sure just where they go.

 

[bill-da-ho]

Thanks for the video Vic, I'm gonna enjoy spearfishing once I get a chance. We get the same kind of response here to dear hunting, always someone out there that doesnt like what someone else is doing.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

From my perspective it is not clear but maybe you will tell me it was the commercial fishing fleets, or even the line fishers who seriously depleted their numbers and not for the most part the scuba spearos?

It is very obvious you don't know anymore than what you have read somewhere about The Keys!

If you knew what you were talkin about, and knew The Keys 16+ years ago, then you would also know what type of fishing was prevalent, the small Charter Commercial Fishing boats.. Yep! Can you see a spearo pulling up a 4 -8 hundred pound Jewfish? LMAO!

Stick to what you know man.. "It Is What It IS"..!!

Yes I have done some reading about this issue;

Several years ago, jewfish populations had collapsed. The fearless giants were easy targets for commercial spearfishermen who would hop from wreck to wreck slaughtering the jewfish that came out to investigate. Other commercial take as well as recreational fishing added to the pressure, and by the end of the 1980s the species was in danger of annihilation. Fortunately, jewfish were granted protection in 1990 that completely restricted any taking, and the leviathan of our inshore waters was saved.

The recovery has been relatively quick and very successful. Offshore jewfish in some areas are extremely plentiful and are, in fact, now considered a liability by many anglers who consistently lose their grouper, snapper or even permit to these aggressive fish. No one is complaining, however, in the backwater, where juvenile jewfish to 75 pounds have become a common year-round catch. This species has just added one more exciting, large target to an already appetizing backcountry selection.

As you can see from my first quote in this post, I was asking for clarification. You have a strange way of answering a fellows Q's. I did make ~50 dives on the Duane and Bibb, spring of '01, and only one time did I see a grouper over 150 lbs.

Goliath Grouper under the Bibb, May '01​

 

[dogblues64]

Cool, I don't mind mixing it up with those that know, thanks for the links..!!

 

[dogblues64]

Good lord. Dont start talking about hunting turtles.

I know, did I actually say hunting turtles..?? LOL!

 

[White Knight]

It is amazing to me (I am being nice here) that so many people continue to blame spear fishing for the decimation of fish stocks in our oceans! Not a word about commercial fishing do I ever hear? I belong to several diving online groups, like this one, and to a couple of social diving groups. Always the same thing. A vocal few demanding that spear fishing be outlawed. What I have read so far with this thread are many awesome, spot on responses to such a suggestion—outlaw spear fishing. Consequently, I am going to refrain from what I would like to say and go have a Scotch!

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Always the same thing. A vocal few demanding that spear fishing be outlawed.

Post #15

Got a feeling spearfishing on scuba is illegal in all of the EU. If it is then good. I hate it.

Post #28

I dislike spearfishing. With regular fishing you put them back relatively unharmed. Spearfishing usually does a lot of damage.

If somebody does hunt down and kill a fish, the least you can do is eat it. I've also once seen somebody spear a fish to death and then release it and go spear some more... Dislike that...

Out of 59 posts, these have been the closest to demanding that spearfishing be "outlawed". In fact though, they never demanded spearfishing be outlawed and they only made one post, so they were not what I consider "vocal" on the subject.

I, on the other hand have been vocal, but I have not demanded anything except for intelligent discussion with facts and examples rather than hyperbole and ignorant propaganda. The legality of spearfishing is not the subject of this thread; spearfishing on scuba is.

Consequently, I am going to refrain from what I would like to say and go have a Scotch!

Sounds like a very republican way to make an argument; I for one would love to hear what you would like to say.

 

[White Knight]

The "original" post ends with this: "Should spearfishing be outlawed while wearing scuba?" I was referencing that question/comment. As far as only SCUBA being mentioned-not other means of spear fishing....other than free diving, I can't think of another time anyone would use a speargun to take fish? Is that was is being suggested, it isn't OK to spear a fish with a SCUBA tank on, but it is OK if I only have a snorkle?