CuzzA
Wetwork for Hire
Personally in my view a good move by Florida authorities to ban spearing on SCUBA.
Whilst spear fishing is touted as the most environmentally friendly form of fishing but it does have the potential to serially deplete reef species, particularly those species that have limited ranges or attracted to particular structures or have other elements of their life history that makes them particularly vulnerable. Divers return to those spots taking those fish time and time again significantly depleting that particular population which may never recover. Not so relevant to wide ranging pelagic species.
Where as other forms of recreational fishing are more reliant on an element of luck.
No Florida Authorities have brought forth this ban. This is a group, not the government. I'm confident the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission would argue they are doing their job just fine.
Do some research on countries that have banned spearfishing on scuba. What you will find is the shallow reefs are decimated as the only means to harvest is limited to areas where a breath hold is possible. Meanwhile the USA has some of the best fisheries in the world. Why? Because we have some of the best sustainability practices and ENFORCEMENT in the world. Is there room for improvement? Of course. But to ban a method of harvest will only increase the use of a different method of harvest. One that may do a lot more damage as pointed out above.
When I see stories like this I think to myself, "these extremist groups are either stupid or don't have a clue what they are talking about. Maybe both."
For example, they're basically arguing BOATS, FISHING AND DIVING need to be banned to save the reef. Meanwhile, the sensible person would ask the question, what aspects of these activities damage the reef? Well it's predominately anchors. So let's ban anchoring on reefs. Another aspect would be divers with terrible buoyancy control. So let's start an initiative on diver education, better training and get a commitment from agency, dive ops, and the FWC to promote better diving practices. Reef briefings before every dive would be a good thing. I can make a correlation to seat belts. I remember growing up seat belts were optional, but now with good education, marketing, etc. just about everyone wears seat belts and it isn't because you can get a ticket. It's because we all know what happens to your head when it goes through the windshield. I believe if divers really knew what they just did when they kicked that coral, they would make sure to never do that again.
Finally, the reefs themselves. They are not in bad shape because of divers, boats and fisherman, they are in bad shape because of pollution, waste management plants, agriculture, shipping lanes and ports right smack next to the reefs. Even CO2 admissions aren't as much of a threat to the reefs as pollution is. I know a thing or two about corals and reef eco systems. I grow them. Corals can easily withstand acidic water. Hell they do just fine even at a pH of 7.8, much lower than the average ocean pH of ~8.2. They do just fine with extreme temperature shifts and long periods of high temperatures. What they can't handle is if I dumped a can of motor oil in my system. My point is this, if we (including these groups) really want to save the reefs, the initiative has to be a phase out of the aforementioned reef killers next to reefs and move them to areas where there is no reef.
Do you know why the SPS corals in South Florida died so rapidly several years ago? It was from a strand of bacteria found in human waste. As we dumped our **** on to the reef it killed the corals. The Army Core of Engineers age old saying about the ocean, "The solution to pollution is dilution." is wrong. The solution to pollution is don't do it.
SO QUIT TARGETING CITIZENS WHO WANT TO HARVEST FISH TO FEED THEIR FAMILIES IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY, WHO ALSO LIKELY DON'T SUPPORT THE TERRIBLE PRACTICE OF LONG LINES, FISHING NETS AND OTHER TERRIBLE FISHING PRACTICES JUST SO PEOPLE CAN BUY SUSHI AT THE RESTAURANT AND SHOW OFF THEIR STATUS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA PICTURES, AND INSTEAD TACKLE THE REAL PROBLEMS THAT ARE EFFECTING OUR REEFS! - Bold and capitalized to emphasize the point.
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