Agree on the former, no way on the latter. If the fisherman is there first and you get in the water with current that will bring you too close, it's absolutely your fault. If you dodn't know there's a current running in that direction, that's your fault, too.
Fisherman snags diver
- Thread starter DennisS
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Agree on the former, no way on the latter. If the fisherman is there first and you get in the water with current that will bring you too close, it's absolutely your fault. If you dodn't know there's a current running in that direction, that's your fault, too.
Aquaviolator
Contributor
If the divers intentionally disrespected the fisherman what did they expect to happen? Then they call FWC to report an incident that they created? They're lucky that it was only a tear to the wetsuit! Don't get me wrong, I'm the first one to get ticked off when someone disregards a dive flag. Thats why I believe as divers we should give hook and line the same courtesy.
Hetland
Contributor
One one hand you have discourteous divers.
On the other hand you have someone assaulting people with a weighted, sharpened, weapon on the water.
Discourtesy is no excuse for violence.
On the other hand you have someone assaulting people with a weighted, sharpened, weapon on the water.
Discourtesy is no excuse for violence.
A couple months ago I dove the Oriskany with a local operator who hooked up about 50 feet from a fishing boat. We kept drifting into and around each other which I thought was rediculous. Luckily the fishermen didn't seem to care too much but if it were me I'd have been pissed.
HateCheese
Contributor
This is a local site for me which I have dove numerous times. For those who haven't dove it, it is a LARGE wreck 9 miles out of the pass and sits in 84ft of water.
Before I dove, I would go fishing regularily. It is not uncommon to see 6-10 boats anchored there fishing. Never have i fished that site with less than 5 boats anchored on it.
On large sites, there is always a 'first' person there. It is a public wreck sitting in public waters, and the GPS coordinates are easily found online. If the 2nd boat there was a fishing boat, this would be a non-issue.
Unless there is info I am unaware of, I don't blame the divers one bit. This is one of the 'shallower' wrecks in the area, and is never a spot that doesn't have a boat on it. Your only chance to dive it with noone there is maybe a night dive.
It all comes down to courtesy and sharing, and both are obviously lacking far too often.
On a local fishing/diving/hunting forum, the guy who did it came on and posted an apology. Everyone on the water should remember that these conflicts are easy to avoid with a simple degree of courtesy - 'hey guys, we spent the last hour riding out here wanting to dive this site, dont want to interfere w/ you so we'll be over on that side of the wreck'
I've dove this site when there were many boats fishing. Once I heard grumblings before splashing. Turns out we came up after the dive and gave them a fishing report that helped - they were fishing for Amberjack, and didn't know that they were hanging out 30ft up and a little further off the wreck that day. The pulled in some scope and started catching before we were out of our gear. Ended up untangling their anchor later on. It really isn't that difficult to NOT make enemies on the water, all you have to do is act like a human being.
Before I dove, I would go fishing regularily. It is not uncommon to see 6-10 boats anchored there fishing. Never have i fished that site with less than 5 boats anchored on it.
On large sites, there is always a 'first' person there. It is a public wreck sitting in public waters, and the GPS coordinates are easily found online. If the 2nd boat there was a fishing boat, this would be a non-issue.
Unless there is info I am unaware of, I don't blame the divers one bit. This is one of the 'shallower' wrecks in the area, and is never a spot that doesn't have a boat on it. Your only chance to dive it with noone there is maybe a night dive.
It all comes down to courtesy and sharing, and both are obviously lacking far too often.
On a local fishing/diving/hunting forum, the guy who did it came on and posted an apology. Everyone on the water should remember that these conflicts are easy to avoid with a simple degree of courtesy - 'hey guys, we spent the last hour riding out here wanting to dive this site, dont want to interfere w/ you so we'll be over on that side of the wreck'
I've dove this site when there were many boats fishing. Once I heard grumblings before splashing. Turns out we came up after the dive and gave them a fishing report that helped - they were fishing for Amberjack, and didn't know that they were hanging out 30ft up and a little further off the wreck that day. The pulled in some scope and started catching before we were out of our gear. Ended up untangling their anchor later on. It really isn't that difficult to NOT make enemies on the water, all you have to do is act like a human being.
diverdoug1
Contributor
I hooked a diver while fishing once (sounds funny but in reality it was a scarry / terrible experince). I was trolling around a wreck called the Bayronto (in about 100 fsw, 25 miles off the west coast of florida) This wreck is popular with fishermen and divers (I have dove it myself numerous times). None of the 4 boats present had a dive flag up, and the divers had gone down before I arrived on the wreck. I was using a downrigger / 100 lb. test line/ and a heavy diving plug with 2 trebble hooks. The line went between the divers legs, snagged his upper thigh, and drug him up from the wreck very quickly. I dragged him quite a way from the wreck (when I a m trolling by myself, I try to drag the fish away from the wreck with the my boat before fighting them). Boy I was supprised when he broke the surface! His thigh was severely lacerated, but no major arterial damage. I rendered first aid, and broght him back to his boat. I waited with him till his buddy came back to the boat about 15 min. later (luckily he didn't exhibit any early signs of DCS). I asked him why they were not flying a dive flag, and he said that they forgot to put it up. I feel really bad about that one.
adurso
Contributor
And the divers have no defense because? The divers surfaced within range of the fisherman, this does not mean they set up in range....
And what charges would you "find"? The article states that two divers surfaced "nearby" when the fisherman threw a jig twice at them. The fisherman comitted a battery, the divers were victims.
The fisherman's misdemeanor battery was not comitted in the presence of law enforcement so the ordinary course of events would be to send the victims to secure a warrant. Of course this presumes ordinary jurisdiction on the part of the State of Florida, depending on how far out the wreck is, it may be a moot point.
And any law enforcement officer who "finds some charges" is looking at a malfeasance charge of their own.....
My wife and I were on a shore dive in Cozumel last month when I spotted a couple of brass lock nuts sitting on the bottom. I showed my wife and was about to pick them up thinking they were trash when they suddenly jumped out of reach. It was only then that I noticed the monofilament line attached to them. Glad I was a little slow or that fisherman would have set the hook right in the palm of my hand. :shocked2:
Plain and simple, if a diver is going to get pissed when a fisherman shows up and starts fishing too close to their dive buoy, then for a diver to enter that zone on an already anchored fisherman is grossly wrong. You read the article as some divers set up out of range and then accidentally ended up at the edge of the fisherman's casting range. I read it as a fisherman was there doing his thing when a couple divers showed up and dropped into the water within the fisherman's safety range. There's a lot of wiggle room to imagine the circumstances.
I also suggested that the divers are responsible for their position in the water. It wouldn't matter to me if they set up too close, or just surfaced too close. If the divers accidentally surfaced close to his boat, waved or otherwise acknowledged that they had screwed up, and began an effort to get back out of range, then they deserve a little slack and may have just been under-skilled. If, on the other hand, they set up close to begin with and then sat there playing on the surface, or maybe were flipping off the fisherman, then they earned their reward. The article doesn't specify how close they anchored, how close they surfaced, or what other actions were taken by either side.
As far as charges go, if there is a violation for a boater entering a diver's range, then the same violation should work in reverse when the diver creates the dangerous situation. If no one was actually harmed in this incident, then there's no reason why the people inappropriately initiating the contact should be able to then put the guy who overreacted in jail and walk away laughing about it. Again, there's a lot more fact left unknown to make a final determination. There's no doubt that law enforcement can, and does, use judgment and the possibility of charges to incent parties in a dispute to be reasonable.
As a diver who knows there's someone fishing nearby on the same wreck I want to dive, I think I need to use a line to go up and down or otherwise take steps to stay out of the fisherman's range to ensure my own safety. I might even try to communicate with the fisherman in some way before going down to make sure we both know what's going on.
adurso
Contributor
The distance a boat must respect in regard to a dive flag is law.
Throwing jigs at people, what the fisherman did, is a midemeanor assault and battery. The act of throwing is the assault part, and the hitting with the jig is the battery part.
This is a real crime.
There is no violation for "entering a range" as you put it. That is not a crime.
The facts are pretty straightforward, as reported; the wreck is not privately owned, there is no crime in a dive boat or other fishermen setting up on the wreck. The first one there does not own the wreck, he must share. Two divers surface within casting range of the fisherman, who begins assaulting them with a weighted, hooked object.......pretty straighforward
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