Spear Fishing

[deadend]

But the point is if they can have this level of impact SF is only adding fuel to the fire….

The fact that you are failing to see though is that the percentage of spearfishermen is less and the bycatch is very minimal compared to the mortality rate of "catch and release" line fishing.

 

[mjh]

Why is it SF don’t want to admit the simple math based on study after study? Even if there was only one Spear Fisherman in the world, if he is killing fish in a species under stress it is negatively affecting the species for the sake of “sport”. For those saying “any fish over 20 pounds can kill a diver”; Huh?? Just let go of the line and you live.

 

[deadend]

So why are you making the distinction between line fishermen and spearfishermen? I promise you that line fishermen have a greater impact than spearos. So why not go after them first? They are obviously the greater of two evils right? Or would that be counter productive for the eco-tourist bunny hugging tofu soapbox.

And geez, about 5 posts after vowing to NEVER POST AGAIN and then resurrecting this thread. I see that like most animal rights fanatics, YOU WILL BE HEARD, but refuse to listen to anyone else or even take a moment to ponder another point of view other than your own.

We know what this thread was about. My question is, who are all of these divers that are in the industry and need to take a stand against spearfishing? Nearly ALL of the divers I know are spearfishermen. I would venture to say that out of the rest of the non spearing divers out there, only a handful dive more than once or twice a year off something other than a cattle boat.

The dive magazines out there all have their agenda. Outside of Spearfishing magazine, and OLD copies of Skin Diver, I've never seen anything about spearing in any of the magazines. So should the industry take a stand? As others have said before, it is not the industry's place to take a stand.

 

[junior diver]

I don't mind people spearfishing as long as they do it a long way away from me.

 

[DavidPT40]

Spearfishing is not very healthy for the spearer, at least in the U.S.

http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/93/102226.htm?GT1=4529

All of the Gulf of Mexico has high levels of mercury.

 

[mjh]

As I mentioned I came across this article that spoke directly to the subject at hand and had noticed someone else had posted in this thread just a couple of days ago. Obviously you have read the post so you know I have been consistent in saying the commercial and line fisherman also need to clean up their acts. I’ll ignore the typical SF insults that seem to pop up whenever some are presented with well thought out studies.

Once again we are trying to make this a resource many generations can enjoy. That means keeping viable stocks. Why is it so difficult to say I am willing to give up this one thing to set an example and so I and others can enjoy this in the future? I have never said I want to permanently ban SF just stop it until we can prove fish stocks can easily support it.

 

[endorfin]

It sounds like there are certainly valid points to limit spearfishing in certain areas. But to get the diving associations to take a position on it may be fair in some areas but certainly is NOT fair for other areas. I am in Southern California. Much of the spearfishing out here is in search of game fish, many of which are seasonal and come up from Mexico (yellowtail for example) another popular game fish is White Sea Bass which are raised in fisheries. Every weekend and often everyday ther are sportfish operators with line anglers loading hundreds if not thousands (just look at the fish reports) of fish. There is no way a diver can take a fraction of the fish the anglers do. Divers are only out a fraction of the time that the anglers are (weather, water temps) and the anglers outnumber divers by multiples -50 to 1 ? 100 to 1 ? So to say divers make an impact out here compared to the anglers would be a little silly I believe.

Yes put limits or regulations where needed, but please be carefull about taking positions on blanket bans based on a few areas or instances.

 

[deadend]

MJH, I am interested in conservation as much as anyone else. I do not eat commercially caught fish, and never take anywhere close to my limit of fish. There is no way I could possibly consume that much. The vast majority of spearfishermen I know are aligned with my point of view. However, your argument seems to end with making me stop spearing so you can look at more pretty fishies on YOUR reef. I have greatly reduced my line fishing activities since starting to spearfish. You want ALL spearing stopped just because you do not agree with it. Like I stated in my previous post, you make sure everyone hears YOU, but WILL NOT listen to any other arguments. Go preach to your PETA buddies. Maybe they'll buy it.