Spearfishing Ethics...

[CBulla]

Hey, when he's ready to do it, let me know.. I'll be more than happy to dive with him on his first time spearfishing to help give him a guiding hand

I'm glad i found this thread. Hubby just planted the news on me that he wants to try this "ethical addition" to his scuba experience. It scares me a little, diving is already such a fun yet risky sport. To add this to it worries me somewhat. However, i'm glad to read that he'll have you guys to refer too.. Still worried though!

 

[scbababe]

Hey, when he's ready to do it, let me know.. I'll be more than happy to dive with him on his first time spearfishing to help give him a guiding hand

Thank's man! He says hello..

 

[ekarais]

Hunting is from the nature.

To my understanding the only ethic when you spearfish don't make massacre. You've got the gun. That means you control. Don't spearfish the females which are going to ovulate, do leave smalls to grow, spearfish if you are certain you'll get it (don't leave blessed fish there) and the quantity of course as much as you can eat, never more.

If you apply this rule then you protect the nature. There is no difference than you buy fish in the market or you hunt it yourself.

 

[MASS-Diver]

What about the ethics of spearfishign with rebreathers? It's my understanding that even illegal to do some in some states in the US.

 

[CBulla]

rebreather spearing is illegal in FL, so I've never even considered it for much more than I thought it would be a really cool thing to try once!

 

[dlndavid]

Hi all,

I have been diving for 15 Years... last weekend was the first time I ever Spearfished in my life ... Used a RIFFE gun (wow)...

Anyways... There has always been this issue with everyone I talk to about whether its ethical to spearfish with SCUBA... Most scuba instructors I spoke to tend to think it is unfair etc...

Any thoughts on the matter?

Don't shoot your fellow divers and nobody ever shoots the bartender.

 

[YoungCousteau]

First let me just say that I am no expert on spearfishing. I have however been hunting on land nearly all my life, since I was old enough to steady a shotgun to my shoulder. The question on if it is ethical to spearfish with scuba or freediving is to me a truley stupid one. Not to say that anyones opinions are wrong or that mine is right. It just seems to me that people say it is an unfair advantage to hunt with scuba gear. If you are worried about having an unfair advantage then you should never try and hunt any living thing. The plain and simple fact is that we are more advanced than any animal or fish or bird that we kill for food. So how do you plan on justifing that its more fair to hunt when free diving rather than with scuba gear. Lets just face facts, hunting is hunting. If you want to be a fair hunter go find a shark and just try and kill it with your teeth and see who wins. To me it is very simple, what ever I kill I eat. I never take for fun, I obey all hunting regulations, I try and kill quick and humane but as for what equipment I use, what ever works. Honestly when you go to McDonalds do you get upset when you take a bite out of a hamburger and say "I wonder if they gave the cow a fighting chance before they ground it up". This is just my two cents worth and that is all its worth.

 

[FredT]

I'm glad i found this thread. Hubby just planted the news on me that he wants to try this "ethical addition" to his scuba experience. It scares me a little, diving is already such a fun yet risky sport. To add this to it worries me somewhat. However, i'm glad to read that he'll have you guys to refer too.. Still worried though!

If he hasn't done it yet, suggest he take the "hunter's safety" class offered by the local game wardens. While the rules for hunting underwater have a few minor differences due to the vis and equipment issues 99% of that course applies. It is also important that you are sitting next to him in class so YOU know the rules as well! I've "taken" it several times as I had the class as an activity offered my Scouts before we got into our marksmanship training cycle. It's a couple hours well spent for anybody, even if they don't intend to hunt. The weapon's safety sections of the class blow the Hollywood gun myths out of the water and make you a better informed voter if nothing else.

FT

 

[gumbo]

It's my been my experience that people opposed to spearfishing, using SCUBA or otherwise, have never really thought about it. The next time someone tells you spearfishing on SCUBA is unethical, ask them if they eat store bought or restaurant seafood. If they say "yes" then explain to them the outcomes of commercial fishing; by-catch, over fishing, reef destruction, the wholesale erdication of once teeming fisheries. If everyone only ate the fish they caught themselves, whether by spearfishing, line fishing or cast net, we wouldn't have any of these problems. I've opened quite a few eyes with this argument.

Obey the laws, don't shoot if you're not sure, and eat what you shoot. That's my philosophy and I probably haven't bought fish in five years.

 

[Quetzal]

WHAT IS UNETHICAL IS CATCH AND RELEASE FISHING. WITH A POLE AND LURE OR FLY ABOVE WATER. FISHING IS ABOUT GETTING FOOD, NOT PLAYING WITH A LIVING THINGS LIFE. HUNTING IS ABOUT GETTING FOOD OR FUR OR LEATHER, NOT TROPHYS.