I may know more than you think Chad,
- I dive regularly on reefs that have been depleted of pretty much all the fish larger than 4 kilos. Most of this damage has been done by spear fishermen, with hook and line a close second.
- Sport fishing by a mixture of spear and hook and line has played a major role in massive depletion of fish stocks of many Caribbean islands starting in the 20's.
- Spearing is the method of choice throughout the Bahamas for instance where I lived for more than a year and had various friends who lived from the sea. the Bahamas is huge but fishermen are resourceful and effective. Many areas there are pretty much devoid of large fish especially near population centres.
- As far as coming onto this board to "blast spearfisherman": Ronjac asked for input from other countries from divers. That's me and I am just giving my viewpoint, but don't assume I'm ignorant, we just have different sets of knowledge and experience. While you may be responsible and many of your friends in Florida may be too, there are many other spearfishermen who are ignorant and harmful all over the world. Just go to the keys in lobster season to see the best examples of that, or come down here to Mexico and see the guy walking along the beach with dozens of creatures of all sorts, octupus, lobsters, snappers etc., mostly all tiny like an oversized shish kebab on his spear.
Long lines and nets do cause more harm indeed overall in all environments, but spearfishing is one of the worst for reefs where nets don't get used.
- I also came on this forum because someone was asking how he could find someone to take him spearfishing here in the Riviera Maya where I know that this would be harmful and illegal, he was also contemplating doing it in a park!! Might have aggravated me a bit and got me started.
We probably agree that commercial fishing is the big offender, that could be done responsibly too, but longlines and pretty much most nets are not it. That leaves us with spears, traps and hook and line.
Don't tell me you never killed a big female fish either, also, a large male is genetically important if only just because he survived to get that old.
It has been proven that the pressure on reef fish is driving populations smaller and they are breeding younger just to survive.
- Bob3's comments are good
"Hook & line fishing, we often see a trail of dead, undersize, and/or non-target species drifting away in a trail behind the boat.
When we spear, it's the first legal size fish of the type we're after.
I would describe spearfishing as having the potential of being the most responsible form of fishing out there.
As with anything, the proper application is dependent upon the integrity of the person doing the fishing but hook & line has a LOT of wasteful practices built right into it, no matter how responsible the person doing the fishing is."
I think there are a lot of unscrupulous fishermen in the world by whatever method but taken as a whole massive overfishing is occurring and causing great harm to the seas, oceans, lakes and rivers of the world. If you eat seafood that was taken irresponsibly, you are part of the problem, and I'm not addressing that to spearfishermen alone but we all count.
I fish only with hook and line and almost never kill a fish. But I don't fish in very deep water either and Bob3's point about expanded bladders is a good one. Many many anglers practice catch and release and while this does cause some harm, a spear is kind of final.
- Bob3 puts his finger right on one of the problems though when he says, "When we spear, it's the first legal size fish of the type we're after."
Spearing tends to target only certain species and over time tends to greatly reduce their numbers and typically removes larger fish of these species from the ecosystem, this is very harmful to tropical reefs in a way that hook and line and traps are not since they are more general in nature.
thorndog
- I dive regularly on reefs that have been depleted of pretty much all the fish larger than 4 kilos. Most of this damage has been done by spear fishermen, with hook and line a close second.
- Sport fishing by a mixture of spear and hook and line has played a major role in massive depletion of fish stocks of many Caribbean islands starting in the 20's.
- Spearing is the method of choice throughout the Bahamas for instance where I lived for more than a year and had various friends who lived from the sea. the Bahamas is huge but fishermen are resourceful and effective. Many areas there are pretty much devoid of large fish especially near population centres.
- As far as coming onto this board to "blast spearfisherman": Ronjac asked for input from other countries from divers. That's me and I am just giving my viewpoint, but don't assume I'm ignorant, we just have different sets of knowledge and experience. While you may be responsible and many of your friends in Florida may be too, there are many other spearfishermen who are ignorant and harmful all over the world. Just go to the keys in lobster season to see the best examples of that, or come down here to Mexico and see the guy walking along the beach with dozens of creatures of all sorts, octupus, lobsters, snappers etc., mostly all tiny like an oversized shish kebab on his spear.
Long lines and nets do cause more harm indeed overall in all environments, but spearfishing is one of the worst for reefs where nets don't get used.
- I also came on this forum because someone was asking how he could find someone to take him spearfishing here in the Riviera Maya where I know that this would be harmful and illegal, he was also contemplating doing it in a park!! Might have aggravated me a bit and got me started.
We probably agree that commercial fishing is the big offender, that could be done responsibly too, but longlines and pretty much most nets are not it. That leaves us with spears, traps and hook and line.
Don't tell me you never killed a big female fish either, also, a large male is genetically important if only just because he survived to get that old.
It has been proven that the pressure on reef fish is driving populations smaller and they are breeding younger just to survive.
- Bob3's comments are good
"Hook & line fishing, we often see a trail of dead, undersize, and/or non-target species drifting away in a trail behind the boat.
When we spear, it's the first legal size fish of the type we're after.
I would describe spearfishing as having the potential of being the most responsible form of fishing out there.
As with anything, the proper application is dependent upon the integrity of the person doing the fishing but hook & line has a LOT of wasteful practices built right into it, no matter how responsible the person doing the fishing is."
I think there are a lot of unscrupulous fishermen in the world by whatever method but taken as a whole massive overfishing is occurring and causing great harm to the seas, oceans, lakes and rivers of the world. If you eat seafood that was taken irresponsibly, you are part of the problem, and I'm not addressing that to spearfishermen alone but we all count.
I fish only with hook and line and almost never kill a fish. But I don't fish in very deep water either and Bob3's point about expanded bladders is a good one. Many many anglers practice catch and release and while this does cause some harm, a spear is kind of final.
- Bob3 puts his finger right on one of the problems though when he says, "When we spear, it's the first legal size fish of the type we're after."
Spearing tends to target only certain species and over time tends to greatly reduce their numbers and typically removes larger fish of these species from the ecosystem, this is very harmful to tropical reefs in a way that hook and line and traps are not since they are more general in nature.
thorndog
