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- I'm a Fish!
I want to "see" one of these frogfish. Where was it exactly?
The best way for a "collector" to see a frogfish at the BHB marine park, is to look at the photos on the big BHB thread.... there are a bunch of recent ones, and I posted a link to a video I shot of one on a night dive.
I understand the Frogfish is a VERY DESIRABLE tropical salt water aquarioum fish, one that would most likely sell for big bucks...they pretty much need their own tank, due to their eating habits, but this would still create a rapid depletion scenario if collectors were to take an interest...If I am wrong about this, please explain why and how DD...
It just seems that as things stand, 99% of us are at the mercy of a handful of collectors, to not decide to remove 100% of some of the most desirable and rare fish we have here.
By your own reasoning, they would have the legal right to do this, and so the question would be, "WHY WOULDN'T THEY TAKE EVERY LAST ONE"?... There are not that many frogfish, or batfish, and if collectors came in numbers, even the population of octopus "could" be removed in a few short weeks.
There is no limit to how many collectors can remove fish at the BHB now. There is no limit to how many of a rare species can be removed from BHB in a given day or week, and no way to even track such a key piece of information, if collecting is to be allowed.
There are no Fish & Game officers watching divers as they come out of the water, to make sure that no "illegal" fish removals have occured, and how could you ever really budget for this? the Cost to watch a handful of people that "could" decimate a rare fish population would be enormous, and the alternative, to just outlaw the practice, would seem to cost the public much less.
ALSO.
I have been doing scooter runs over large ranges of the intracoastal outside of the BHB area. One thing I can say for certain, is that the concentration and diversity of life found at the BHB, is NOT duplicated anywhere else in the intracoastal. the mangrove areas support a small amount of life right around them, but in terms of relative concentration ( comparing it to BHB) the mangroves all along the north side of Singer Island to Munyon Island are a desert when compared to the BHB area.
The point being, BHB IS a unique spot, it is a nursery ground for marine life unlike anything else we have found in any part of the intracoaastal. Even the jetty by the Pumphouse, or the south jetty side at the point, do not harbor anything close to the diversity of species found at the BHB, or the nursery potential.
That being said, the pumphouse area and south jetty are areas collectors would not get negative comments from BHB divers about, the jetty areas really do repopulate almost daily, if they need to ( species competitions for space in this area) and more than likely, the major desires of collectors can be met at the jetty dive sites, minus the ultra rare species of the BHB that SHOULD NOT be taken anyway.
So what is the big problem with the collectors going to the jetties, or to shallow Breakers reefs by mooring balls or the underwater pier ( both swim from shore dives).