What kind of hunting can you do while SCUBA diving?

[ShrimpDaddy]

Yeah here in Florida we are aloud to deer hunt using dogs so I haul out my dogfish and release them under water and I sit on my butt on the bottom and wait for them to run the deerfish in front of me to shoot with my fully automatic AR 4X spear gun. Man I just rake them in its so easy while on scuba.

ShrimpDaddy

 

[cmburch]

Take a look at your local Regs. Hook up with others with the same interests at your local dive shop. It use to be season was open sooner and longer for spearfishing certain species compared to H&L. Spearfishermen eat what they kill. Very specific. Pull an undersized fish up from the deep using H&L release it back in the water to die. I would say what a waste, but everything gets eaten and is a source of nutrients in the sea. I freedive and rarely ever SCUBA anymore. You can stay in the water longer and less to carry on the long hike back to the roadway. Most California groundfish just sit there and dare you to shoot them. They may even extend their dorsal spines for show. Not many natural predators? I like Halibut, Lingcod, Cabezon. Rockfish and perch are OK. Love crab, lobster, abalone, scallops, octopus. Sea urchin is OK. Learn the Regs and about what tastes the best. Learn about the species of interest, such as mating habits and times so do not take during these periods. Some SCUBA dummies had lingcod tournaments south of Carmel. They even nicknamed a small cove Lingcod Cove. Year 3 tournament WHERE are all the lingcods??? Male lingcods guard the eggs, so sit there in the rock opening and are easy targets. Kill the protector of the eggs and the eggs get eaten by other fish, I think Cabezon are similar in time of year and mating. I just write in my log when not to take them even when the season opens before the end of mating season. I also keep track and memorize which fish not to kill. Bag limits, min or max size restrictions, restricted locations, must keep up to date. Regs can change midseason, so need to keep abreast of the law.

 

[diversteve]

What kind of hunting can you do while SCUBA diving?

In your area I watched a local diver decimate a group of flounder that lived under the wreck we were diving on one day. Hardly seemed sporting to hover over the fish and spear them from 3' away. And he brought up a conch but IIRC the captain made him put it back.

Check your local state fishing regulations.

Lionfish seem to be open season just about anywhere since they're decimating the other local species. But you need a keeper to safely get them off the spear and keep from getting stung - a stringer wouldn't work as the venom is still active.

 

[growingupninja]

Short answer: it depends on your local and state regulations.

Here in California hunting and gathering are legal only for the game listed than you can take while on scuba or surface supplied air. If it's not listed you can not take it.
Many here in Norcal do hunt on scuba because we're after food more than a sporting event. There are limits and as long as the we are operating within the law we see nothing wrong with harvesting on scuba. Freedivers may see it differently, but their motives are slightly different too. I feel freedivers are way more destructive to a particular area when they have their fish killing competitions when hundreds of applicants go out and the motive is to kill as many fish as possible during a set time frame to win an award. There are no sanctioned scuba spear fishing competitions in my area that I'm aware of.
Scuba divers in my experience only gather what they can eat and tend to boast about it much less. We feel because it is considered less "sporting" we don't do it for sport, we do it for the food. The more effectively we can get the food and get it back home the better. After all, a dead fish is a dead fish, it doesn't really matter how it died.
I only take what I know I can eat within a few weeks because I don't like fish that has been frozen too long and has freezer burn. Plus I don't like to clean fish for hours after I get home so that will limit may take.
Regardless what the diver was wearing when he speared the fish whether on scuba or not, spearfishing still remains the most responsible method of take of all fishing methods.

Don't even get me started on commercial fishing!!

I am not really that much into spearing competitions, but I don't like to see people generalize freedive spearos...! And yes, there is a lot of d*ckswinging and testosterone that goes with freedive spearing, but there are plenty of guys who do it for food/enjoyment not glory. The photo in my avatar is from the Pacific Coast Championships. I haven't ever seen a tournament with 'hundreds' of spearos. I don't do a lot of comps although I do hunt for food; my fiance and I eat seafood at least 5 times a week, and spearing is legit part our grocery budget; I am usually shorediving or on my own world's crappiest inflatable, a Kaboat, the prius of the seas. I did the comp mainly to represent the speargun muzzle I make and get a nice photo of the muzzle; in an ordinary outing I would have shot about 5 of the 13 fish I shot. Of my 92lbs stringer, about a pound of that was surf perch that I admitedly did not eat. About 40 pounds of that was California sheephead which I don't care for, and gave away for someone else who was extremely happy to eat it. The rest of it we ate or have in the freezer and will certainly eat because we consider it premium fish. The PCC's are probably one of the larger tournaments on the west coast. There were about 30 guys, not hundreds, and guys were working basically anything within kayak range in a 6 hour window, so about 4 square miles. EVERY SINGLE diver showed up to the weigh-in with their fish on ice because they presumably intend for it to be eaten, and overall maybe 10% of the take was perch (usually shot for points; experienced spearfishermen don't consider perch to be premium table fare). I think the PCC's may be the last of the '20 fish meets', with 20 fish being the max allowed by law in California. Most spearing tournaments are 3 to 6 fish meets nowadays, and every single meet I am aware of imposes a minimum size that is larger than the state legal minimums. I rarely do spearing tournaments, that was my second ever, but many of friends do several little club tournaments a year, and they only shoot what they or their households care to eat, and it's usually premium gamefish since these are 3 fish meets. Nobody in the spearing world gets any respect for shooting garbage fish that nobody wants to eat. Also, in southern california, many of our premium gamefish are spooked by scuba so freediving is the most efficient way to get them. (End rant...)

 

[covediver]

Depends on local regulations. Bag limits may differ for locals versus out-of-staters. Gear types allowed vary too.
Shellfish can be taken in some places. I did enjoy lobster hunting (take by hand) and taking rock scallops and crabs when I lived in Socal. Abalone every so often, but that was a long time ago.
Did some lionfish hunting recently. That is more predator control that sport. No limits and they make great tacos.

 

[Sam Miller III]

The first "International Spear Fishing Tournament" was at Divers/ Pic Nic cove in Laguna Beach California in June 1950-. 67 years ago. It was won by the three man team of Ken Kummberfield, Pat O' Malley and Paul Hoss from the Compton Dolphins spear fishing club-- This was before the introduction of the wet suit, flotation devices ,SCUBA instruction organized diving and the modern late model tube sucking bubble blowers who post with great authority about subjects they have no experience or knowledge.

That one tournament was the beginng,of spear fishing competitions in the world

During the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a very informal gathering of "antique, vintage, old" (chose one or all) Free divers and spear fishermen. It was noticed that the ranks were thinning So letters and telephone calls notified free divers and spear fishermen of a last great gathering of the tribe. In 2000 Spear fishermen and free divers from all over the world converged on Orange County California for one last big gathering of the tribe

I was a participant and honoree at that event....a gathering of individuals, male and female, who had experienced an event that lasted only a short time and will never again be experienced again upon this earth

Now 16 years later almost all the fathers are gone -- only a hand full remain and they are rapidly aging but what they began has had a resurgence and a new tribe has been formed ,

It is recognized their is a beginning a middle and end to all activities . The beginning Is past and now we are some where in the middle and we can only hope the end is in the far distance,. It will be if the new tribe spear fishermen will spear with restraint and respect of their finned adversaries.

As can be imagined as evidenced by my avatar I am totally opposed to a the use of SCUBA for spear fishing-- but acceptable for bugs, scallops. oysters and other shell fish

I just discovered this in my file

"I have always thought of Spearfishing as a noble sport where one matched his skill in a very hostile environment with that of his finny adversary in an activity of selective fishing rather than wholesale slaughter.
Spear fish with great dignity and pride in this the noblest of all man's activities, but with restraint and only selective spearfishing, for with every activity there is a Beginning; a Middle; and an End............"

I was honored to have been a participant in the Beginning, we are some where in the Middle and if precautions aren't established the End can be with in your lifetime

SDM



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[fmerkel]

There is not a fishery on the planet that is not endangered. People that claim there is don't know what is going on.
"Legal" is not the same as understanding the problem. Scuba spearfishing is by far not the big problem. Grotesque commercial fishery is the problem. Harvest with the future in mind and don't buy ANY commercial fish at all. Wild caught or farmed, it's all hugely destructive.

 

[Tassi Devil Diver]

Spearfishing on SCUBA contributes to the serial depletion of fish stocks FULL STOP.

 

[luscioman]

Per the US Govt Florida has 3 million anglers per year. How many scuba spearfishemen are in Florida? The impact by scuba spearfishing is minimal. From dema there were 128,000 new divers in Florida for 2005 through 2013. If every new divers for 8 years did spearfishing that is 5% of all anglers . I am sure you have statisticsand and you are not talking out you wetsuit so post hem.




https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pub...ggdMAA&usg=AFQjCNFreaAO9pHIfuTgzd15T8856hkg3Q

 

[100days-a-year]

The US has one of the healthiest fisheries in the developed world and allows SCUBA spearfishing in many places.Many of the places I have traveled in Europe,the Middle East and Africa have decimated fisheries due to population density and poor enforcement of recreational and commercial fisheries.Very rarely do fisheries managers blame divers for damage to the ecosystem and often erroneously as in the case of jewfish where records instead show recreational fishermen caught far more than commercial fishermen or divers.