Washington bans on the taking of octopus at popular dive sites

[LowDrag]

Nice...I am glad to hear that popular sites will be protected. I am also glad the committee did not try to impose a Puget Sound wide ban. IMO that would have been over board.


Way to go Bob...congrat's on the victory everyone up there fought for.

 

[chrpai]

good or bad, one person can force changes and make a difference.

Emphasis added. (Censorship to follow no doubt.)

 

[TSandM]

I'm really very happy with the outcome. I do not think there were enough data to support a complete ban on octopus hunting, and although I love the animals and hate to think about someone killing them, that emotional reaction that I have really shouldn't serve as a platform for a policy. Nobody could come up with much information that many of them are caught, either.

And I'd like to mention that, although Bob was present at the incident and helped publicize it, a lot of the leg work on getting this matter before the Fish & Wildlife Department was done by my friend Scott Lundy, a medical student and PhD who is also an avid underwater photographer and teacher of underwater photography. You can see his photos at Rapture of the Deep Photography.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Emphasis added. (Censorship to follow no doubt.)

Last I checked, all laws eventually involve force; the nice thing here is that they're initially set by vote/persuasion rather than just skipping straight to violence. If you'd like to force a different rule upon others, by all means change the law.

 

[adurso]

Kudos to Bob

And others who were involved

 

[Peter Guy]

I want to reiterate what TSandM wrote -- Scott did a LOT of work on this and is to be congratulated.

 

[freewillie]

This is good to hear. The young man's initial response to Bob was that it wasn't illegal and be wasn't breaking any laws. As a diver we take on a responsibility to be stewards of the oceans. If there is no sea life then there is nothing to dive for.

But, let's also remember the thread included some pretty graphic descriptions of physical harm that should befall that poor teen. While initially amusing I could see from his perspective it bordered on web bullying. I am not so Machiavellian to say the end justifies the means. Lets also remember we were once young and stupid. I'm glad that we can learn from even bad events and something positive happens.

When God gives you lemons you can make lemonaid.

 

[NAM001]

No one could be displeased with this outcome. BZ Bob

 

[dmoore19]

Excellent outcome. Way to go Bob and others.

 

[koozemani]

Congrats to all involved!! One day I hope to get up there and see them in the wild