Spearfishing

[furphy]

My dad was a spearo - we used to go down to the local beach early morning every Sunday and dad would vanish of the rocks with his spear and catch us lunch. The fish always got eaten that day or the next. I've got many childhood memories of scaling and gutting fish on the rocks at Balmoral Beach. I tried it myself once but at that point I didn't have the hang for free diving with a snorkell and I just couldn't stay down long enough to find the damn fish (all the good ones hide under rocks during the day).

In NSW (Australia) it's illegal to take anything that lives in the water out of the water when you have scuba gear on - fish, crustaceons, anything. I agree with this law wholeheartedly - it's way too easy to pick up a lobster when you're SCUBA diving in Sydney and given the local penchant for seafood it would cause some serious stock depletion if anyone did it.

Over the easter long weekend my dive buddies and I found ourselves sharing the water with a couple of spearfishers. It was a nervous time, and we moved away from them as quickly as possible. The thing is though, when they're not mid dive they're watching what's going on below them pretty closely (how else will they find fish?) so they're unlikely to not see you if you're in their range. The only problem was they were spearing around our exit point, so we had to pass them at some point

 

[kubefish]

it would be silly to say that people hunt purely for food and not for fun. we are not cave men. i am sure that if you can afford a spear gun and dive equiptment you can afford a cheese burger. i enjoy fresh seafood like everyone else and i eat everything that i catch or kill , but i hunt above and below the water for fun only!
it that so wrong? i think everyone should take a good look at themselves and not be so hypocritical. i am not ashamed.
i do not agree with a lot of things that other people do but, i don't spout off about it.