Spearfishing

[CuzzA]

So why do I see them eat 40 inch Permit? LOL They LOVE permit. If you shoot one in front of them they go crazy. Almost like a shark does. They truth is they are lazy and eat whatever they can catch, easily.

You do realize that is just a write up from Joe Schmo on the net right? After he read some "studies"?

You contradicted yourself. They are lazy and eat whatever they can catch the easiest. Diving public numbers is what they do. Why do you think so many congregate on artificials and popular wrecks? Because they are fed constantly by anglers and spearfishermen. You shooting a fish providing an easy meal doesn't correlate to gut content studies. We know what they eat because we studied their gut contents.

90% of my fishing is on natural reefs and we are starting to see their presence back in their natural habitat. They aren't snatching fish from us because we aren't fishing the beaten path. But that is the reality of why they shouldn't be open for take yet. While a public artificial reef may be holding 70 fish, on the natural reefs and ledges we see one or two here and there. They are still not back to the levels that could support any kind of sustainable take, but we're on the right track.

 

[CuzzA]

Ok I made it through like 25 words before I reached "reef fish stock". Goliath are not a reef fish. Do you want to point me to a specific part of this study where it says how the Goliath Grouper population was decimated?

Dude, what are you talking about? They most certainly are a reef fish. What do you think they are, an artificial wreck fish?

 

[IncreaseMyT]

Dude, what are you talking about? They most certainly are a reef fish.

*facepalm*

Ok so they are reef fish.

So this is a generic study, like I already mentioned earlier. Do I need to quote my post? I specifically said, I am sure there are studies showing in general trawling was pretty much to blame for declining fish stocks. Your study doesn't prove a thing about Goliath Grouper. It is an extremely general study and conclusion.


And just so you know, you may read it on the net, but Goliath are not reef fish. They don't like the reef. They like concrete, wrecks and yes ledges. But not really, there are a few there but not anywhere near the majority. And they are not the big ones either.

So basically we have went around in a circle, while proving nothing.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

You contradicted yourself. They are lazy and eat whatever they can catch the easiest. Diving public numbers is what they do. Why do you think so many congregate on artificials and popular wrecks? Because they are fed constantly by anglers and spearfishermen. You shooting a fish providing an easy meal doesn't correlate to gut content studies. We know what they eat because we studied their gut contents.

What does that mean? Does that mean they only eat crustaceans because they can't catch the the bigger fish? No different than a Shark. They eat what they can catch, like I said. Maybe the ones you did gut studies on weren't able to catch anything that day. Your study is not really a study. It is an observation, a very narrow one.

I am not contradicting myself, you are trying to pound this falsehood down my throat and you have an explanation for everything and I am telling you that is not what I see.

Why does it have to be spear fisherman? Same thing happens on hook and line. You telling me you performed gut studies and came to the conclusion that they only eat bigger fish when spearfishmern poke one? LOL You are the one contradicting yourself.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

And lastly, public numbers? LOL I bet there are not 10 living people in the world that have ever dived some of the spots where these things occurred.

This is not Key Largo dude. SO there goes your "why do you think they congregate on artificial reefs and wrecks"

 

[CuzzA]

A. Studies
B. The only Joe shmo reciting garbage off the internet is the guy with low t.
C. Just one instance https://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustaina..._fish/archives/reef_fish_amend_2_feb_1990.pdf

Nice find and it pretty much correlates with what I posted earlier about the Northern Gulf Coast (Alabama) fisherman coming to town and wiping out fish stocks in Florida.

Some historical perspective has to be given here. Ray Odor was one of the first to scuba dive in Florida with his home made tank and reg. This was in the mid 50's. I think he opened the first dive shop, Tampa Skin Divers off Gandy in the early 60's. Very few people were diving back them and even fewer were spearfishing, and even fewer than that were doing it commercially.

Almost any historical photos on the internet are hook and line guys with countless jewfish lined up. I'm not saying no one was spearing them, I'm saying not enough to send them to near extinction like Increasemyt suggested.

Jewfish are still a bycatch on shrimp trawlers and while hook and line was the primary method of take, trawlers dragging nets across the reefs were taking jewfish too.

@IncreaseMyT, the report does give some validity to your statement there were a lot of fish harvested by recreational spearfishing.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

And lastly they don’t “congregate” there, that’s where they live. Super territorial.

In fact I am pretty sure they protect the snapper, and eat a few here and there in return

Also saying that someone snagged a few jewfish in a large net does not mean trawlers decimated the population

Very few Jewfish on your average natural reef

 

[CuzzA]

*facepalm*

Ok so they are reef fish.

So this is a generic study, like I already mentioned earlier. Do I need to quote my post? I specifically said, I am sure there are studies showing in general trawling was pretty much to blame for declining fish stocks. Your study doesn't prove a thing about Goliath Grouper. It is an extremely general study and conclusion.


And just so you know, you may read it on the net, but Goliath are not reef fish. They don't like the reef. They like concrete, wrecks and yes ledges. But not really, there are a few there but not anywhere near the majority. And they are not the big ones either.

So basically we have went around in a circle, while proving nothing.

No one said trawling was to blame. Go back and read my post. I said the primary method of take was hook and line and trawling. Trawling was for Red Snapper and the jewfish were bycatch. You said it's impossible because jewfish would just hide from the net. Nonsense.

Where did the jewfish live before concrete and wrecks? Say around 1000 BC? I hope you realize how ignorant that statement is. A ledge is part of the reef, man. It's a physical feature. Why do you think they aren't there? *facepalm*

Anyway, I'll believe the report published by The Gulf Fisheries Management Council and the old salts. I wouldn't tag spearfishing as the primary decline in jewfish, I'd point to a lack of management.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

I said you don’t catch a bunch of jewfish in a trawler, and you don’t. Trawlers don’t go where the high concentration of Jew fish are, and in places they do it’s on a wreck and jewfish can easily hide under the wreck from the net.

You keep making things absolute, which is hard for to me to understand coming from a fellow fisherman, cause if there is anything fishing has taught me, is that nothing is absolute

 

[IncreaseMyT]

No one said trawling was to blame. Go back and read my post. I said the primary method of take was hook and line and trawling.

Speaking of contradictions