Dear Gordon in Austin,
I would like to apologize from the very beginning for making assumptions in my answer.
However, as we do not know each other it is impossible to base my arguments on your opinions and lifestyle, which I simply don’t know.
By your response, I would assume that you equate spearfishing in Cozumel, perhaps everywhere, as a predatory practice.
One that harms the environment and the beautiful marine habitat surrounding our island.
That’s not the case.
Do you eat fish or fish yourself?
I do think that those who refuse to eat animals or animal-based products will never be okay with our way of life.
That’s both understandable and respectable.
However, we do eat fish and we also hunt the fish we eat. More on that in a moment.
If you do eat fish, fish yourself or find either or both okay, then the problem you see with spearfishing is that it is somehow worse than the other forms of fishing.
This is also not true, especially if you follow best practices as we do.
Spearfishing Today has been around for almost ten years now.
In that time, we have placed great emphasis on our joint philosophy of “more is less” and “from sea to table”.
More recently, we have been exploring ways in which we can incorporate our work into the concept of the slow fish movement.
We believe in ethical and sustainable fishing, and that strict rules should apply to use as well as all other fishing operations.
For instance, we never hunt in the marine park nor outside of season. Furthermore, we are very selective about the type of fish we hunt.
In addition, there is no by-catch and no mass fishing carried out by Spearfishing Today.
Every time we go out we try to instill upon our guests that this is about the experience of catching the food we eat.
Moreover, I specifically choose high quality but low technology spearguns. That’s because this our operation isn’t about trophies or ensuring that our guests get the biggest fish but the best possible experience.
Can we improve? Most definitely.
Is that what we strive for with the growth of our company? Of course.
Please feel free to join us on a spearfishing charter one day from Cozumel to see for yourself.
The majority of our guests come as strangers and leave as friends. We would expect nothing less with you, even if we still agree to disagree.
Warm regards,
Leo
