Spearfishing Cozumel

[lionfish-eater]

They're all tasty, some are tastier than others. Which ones you choose to take are a personal choice. Damsel fish make great fish bites when battered and fried. Trunk fish are delicious, but they take 1/3 longer to cook. Parrot fish are also yummy, but you have to get rid of the feathers. Queen Angels taste just like chicken! The choice of which you choose to take is your's alone. Personally, I just take the lionfish. I do however eat local catch of sustainable fish. This may seem contradictory, but I rationalize it somehow. Please don't take this post the wrong way as I am a fisherman and support taking fish on a one by one basis, ie single hook and line or spearfishing, which I believe to be the most humane method of taking fish. My only point is that they are almost all good eats, from squid and octopus to all the pretty little reef fish, which ones you take are up to you. Excellent post, very well done.

 

[Darol]

Awesome.... Thanks for sharing...

 

[Mark Derail]

LOL - and puffers give you gas? Damsel fish give you a flush?

Seriously, I was wondering which fish in particular, because being down there you can sensibly pick & choose. Different than fishing on the surface, not knowing what you caught.

Also, I imagine you cannot spearfish just anywhere around Cozumel. Is Paradise Reef off-limits? Diving there a few times, never saw other boats than dive boats.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Mark - I was in a restaurant on an island other than coz and we ordered the catch of the day, we were served trunk fish and parrot fish, whole, I might add. I was expecting snapper. After I overcame the effects of having dived with them 3 hours earlier and now seeing them on a platter I tried to explain to the waiter, but there was a severe language issue all of a sudden. We ate both as we could not put them back in the sea. They were very very good.

I was on a dive on an island other than coz and a local fisherman had set traps about 100 ft outside the boundary of the marine park. The traps were full of small reef fish of all sorts. The traps were handmade from sticks and looked like mini fish prisons to me, but to the locals it was their sustenance.

If you have any doubt about it all being edible, just go to an all you can eat seafood buffet. Most processed fish is mislabled according to a recent natgeo article. Artificial, imitation pasteurized,processed,bycatch.

I like the sea urchins at the sushi place, they taste like seafood pumpkin pie.

MMMMMM!!!! Whale meat!

MMMMMMM!!!!Shark fins!

MMMMMMM!!!!Turtles!

Well that's what they get for wandering outside the boundary of the marine park!!

Go USA........... To the all you can eat buffet!:eat::eat:

 

[Sorrows]

Oh please don't shoot the groupers! We need for them to get big and eat lionfish!
Besides, they're like big puppies following you around wanting a snack...

Yes! PLEASE do not shoot the groupers! Please, please, PLEASE do NOT shoot the groupers!

For all the excellent reasons Pelagicsgal mentions, but also because groupers have been seriously overfished and I would assume none of us wants to contribute to its decline. Besides, what kid of sport is it to shoot something that just sits there and stares at you like a puppy? Why not just shoot buffalo from a train?

Let's try to stay away from the red snappers, too. Please. Same reason.

You know, I totally get that shooting is fun and appreciate that people then eat the "fruits of their labor," but I wish spearfishers would follow the example set by hunters and stick with sustainable species. Also, why should it be that easy--what kind of fun is that? A kill after some honest effort and use of your superior intellect would be so much more rewarding, wouldn't it?

 

[Hank49]

Yes! PLEASE do not shoot the groupers! Please, please, PLEASE do NOT shoot the groupers!

For all the excellent reasons Pelagicsgal mentions, but also because groupers have been seriously overfished and I would assume none of us wants to contribute to its decline. Besides, what kid of sport is it to shoot something that just sits there and stares at you like a puppy? Why not just shoot buffalo from a train?

Let's try to stay away from the red snappers, too. Please. Same reason.

I dont' think you have to worry about red snapper. They generally stay well below where divers go, And as for groupers following you around like puppies? The grouper up there must be a LOT dumber than the ones here in Belize. It's not easy to get grouper. In fact, I would say that black grouper are one of the more difficult fish to approach.

 

[Mossman]

No worries about Ciguatera?

"BEWARE HOWEVER: We went on a fishing trip and caught a Barracuda and although the fisherguide "tested" it, we ate it and all came down with Ciguatera, a very serious toxin that put us in the mexican emergency room! Yikes. Do not risk eating reef fish in mexico, it was aweful." -- Villa Las Uvas 5 Bedroom Villa - Cozumel Mexico Villa Rentals Vacation Resort Rental Condo

"Sin embargo, se han reportado casos [of Ciguatera] frecuentemente en Isla Mujeres y Cozumel, donde el principal vector ha sido pez barracuda." -- Biblioteca Virtual en Salud

 

[cvchief]

Why not just shoot buffalo from a train?

Oh, I didn't know Mexico still had that. You have a number or website? I have a family trip coming up.....

 

[ggunn]

Also, I imagine you cannot spearfish just anywhere around Cozumel. Is Paradise Reef off-limits? Diving there a few times, never saw other boats than dive boats.

You imagine correctly. From just north of Paradise Reef southward to the tip of the island and back up the east coast for a few miles there is a marine park where any form of fishing is outlawed. There is/was a movement afoot to expand the park to completely encircle the island. I'd support it.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Mossman, Happy Pesach!

The higher up the food chain, the more concentrated the toxins. Cudas are pretty high up. Not good eats.

I read somewhere that Cigutara poisioning occurs most often in areas that have slow or stagnant waters. Also, are usually concentrated on certain areas of the reef that locals often know about because they have gotten ill. So far no reports from coz, but we don't really know.

I suppose that Pez Leon are also high on the food chain. The difference between them and the cuda are size of prey and age of cudas.

There is a risk associated with everything we eat. I got the worst food poisoning of my life from the ceviche at Playa Bonita on the east side.

Fishing trip to a pristine lake in northern Manitoba, some came back with tapeworms, others with giardia.

All that being said, what I am most likely to get sick from is Man! From the field to my plate there are many opportunities for contamination.

Go USA!..........To the all you can eat Buffet!!!!:eat::eat: