When things reopen...

[uncfnp]

@UTscuba I absolutely understand how you feel and respect your preferences. I felt much the same as you until I had more exposure to hunters and the south florida dive boats. But I grew up freshwater fishing with my parents and grandparents so fishing for my meal was not entirely foreign to me. And I admit I like seafood, including fish and lobster. I don’t hesitate to order it at a restaurant so catching my own meal seemed reasonable. And there are regulations in place to try and ensure its sustainability.

So looking at your lobster example, as a recreational hunter I pay my fees to support regulation. I catch and eat only the allowed limit and size and there is no capture of unintended creatures. One can not say this about commercial fishing as you yourself have described. Yes, it was tough for me to kill but I actually feel better about doing it myself rather than having some one do it for me.

Are there bad hunters out there? Of course. But lumping all of us together might be unfair. I have enjoyed our conversations and I truly hope that my hunting does not preclude our getting to dive together if we find ourselves in Florida and diving at the same time.

 

[scubadada]

@UTscuba

I bet you would love a drift starting on the outside of Boynton reef with a crossover and finishing on the inside reef. I rarely see another diver and see the most amazing stuff. In January 2019, I had 5 dolphins join me on the crossover. In August, my wife and I had an incredible encounter with a Great Hammerhead on the inside reef. You never know. Let me know if you are ever in Florida.

 

[UTscuba]

@UTscuba

I bet you would love a drift starting on the outside of Boynton reef with a crossover and finishing on the inside reef. I rarely see another diver and see the most amazing stuff. In January 2019, I had 5 dolphins join me on the crossover. In August, my wife and I had an incredible encounter with a Great Hammerhead on the inside reef. You never know. Let me know if you are ever in Florida.

lol thanks, that sounds amazing. I actually moved here (Utah) from Tally a long time ago for the mountains. Not many of those in Fl. But wish I'd been a diver back then, had no idea what I was missing. Always have pleasant memories of Fl and it's on the list of places to (re)visit when this is all behind us (although I shall be vetting my dive boats as always )

Thank you for your courtesy

 

[UTscuba]

@UTscuba
Are there bad hunters out there? Of course. But lumping all of us together might be unfair.

forgive me for laboring the point, and I don't intend to offend. But it's nothing to do with hunters per se, I dive to spend time with live fish, and having them killed while I'm doing that pretty much defeats the purpose of me diving. I have found hunters, whether or not they're good people, are pretty proud of what they've caught and being shown their catch and having the hunt described to me in detail doesn't improve things.

I'd far rather be shown a photograph than a carcass.

edit: and I have friends who hunt, and friends who fish, they're still friends. I just stay away from those trips where they hunt.

 

[johndiver999]

that's not what I said, I said I don't want to get on a dive boat where that's a simultaneous activity.

OP was proposing to open the lobster and grouper season as a way of increasing sales to the diving industry, I was merely pointing out that I personally avoid dive boats that do both activities. So OPs plan to help the diving industry would discourage me personally from visiting Florida to dive.

If you want to harvest/fish, please be explicit about your motives, don't try to pretend that it's somehow altruistic for the dive community.

edit: and I unreservedly exempt lionfish from the above.

Do you find boats that say their customers can not take lobsters (during season of course). It is my impression that most all the boats will allow lobsters to be taken?

 

[UTscuba]

Do you find boats that say their customers can not take lobsters (during season of course). It is my impression that most all the boats will allow lobsters to be taken?

I've not had any experiences where SoCal boats allowed just lobsters, I've found that boats either allow any legal fishing or they don't, and when they don't allow it, it seems to be a blanket ban, I'm guessing they don't want to deal with the hassle of permit checks for a minority of divers on the boat, but that is just my guess and if anyone wants to correct me that would be fine.

 

[FullThrottle]

I dive mostly SoCal and one of my favorite things to do is sit on the bottom and stir up silt for Sheepheads to search through for things to eat, They're curious and fairly bold and I've frequently had four or five snuffling around me. They're not difficult to kill if you want to do that, they're big and slow and easy to stab with a spear, much like groupers. It's deeply unpleasant then to get out of the water and have to spend the day with a bucket of dead Sheepheads next to my dive station from the hunter next to me, and knowing that my playing with them likely made them lose their fear and probably got them killed. If you don't understand why that's problematic then I don't think either of us is going to convince the other.

As to lobsters, I've seen way too many abandoned lobster pots filled with dead or trapped lobsters to have anything positive to think about lobster fishing.

Regarding lobster traps: in FL only commercial fishermen are allowed to trap lobsters. And I do think they take more than their share of that resource. Us recreational harvesters hardly make a dent, and we don't foul the waters with abandoned anything.

 

[UTscuba]

Regarding lobster traps: in FL only commercial fishermen are allowed to trap lobsters. And I do think they take more than their share of that resource. Us recreational harvesters hardly make a dent, and we don't foul the waters with abandoned anything.

to labor the point, I'm not objecting to hunters, I'm objecting to the things I'm trying to see being killed AT THE SAME TIME THAT I'M TRYING TO SEE THEM.

 

[MichaelMc]

Tofu, peas, quinoa, beans and rice.

Watching the pretty fish, hanging out with them while not disturbing their environment, then finding them dead in a bucket on the boat. Not the good memories post dive experience I’m looking for.

 

[UTscuba]

Watching the pretty fish, hanging out with them while not disturbing their environment, then finding a bucket of them dead on the boat. Not the post dive good memories experience I’m looking for.

THANK YOU!