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I agree there is a big difference in touching some things vs. others. Another example may be me pulling myself along a ledge by grabbing rocks covered with seaweed in Nova Scotia vs. doing that with coral in Aruba. Personally I have no interest in touching any aquatic animals except for my shell collecting. Not being prudent, just have no interest.
How does the crab feel about that interaction? Probably has as much self awareness as the lobster.I think there is a major difference between interacting with nature and wildlife vs indiscriminately and intentionally ripping off an appendage for whatever reason this sick and deranged woman and her lacky husband had in mind.
If I had witnessed this I'm not sure what I would have done but what comes to mind is once back on the boat grabbing a handfull of her reg hoses, slicing them with my dive knife and informing her that her diving day was over and to go ahead and sue me. I know for sure that had my wife seen this, once back onboard she would have been letting this women..... along with everyone else onboard and probably all of Mexico ......know exactly how she felt.
As far as "interacting" with wildlife goes, I am not innocent... One of my "memorables" was an encounter with a very friendly wolf eel up in BC. It was in a hole at about 85-90 feet and curious and so I busted open a nearby rock scallop to feed to it and the rest is in the pics below.
If I find an octopus in a hole I have no problem finding a nearby crab to feed to it and that sometimes causes it to interact and come out to "investigate" further. When interacting with octopus I typically will remove one of my gloves to enhance the "connection"....... Another aspect of octo interaction is that at least in my experience the Giant Pacifics can actually communicate their "mood"..... If they are comfortable and curious they remain in their typical ambient "camo" color. If scared they will turn a more white color and if angry or distressed they can turn a more red color
As far as spearfishing on SCUBA...I also am not innocent, but I also am admittedly a carnivore and Ling Cod are one of my very favorite foods. I only hunt in season, licensed, within all rules, but typically at depths that are not in my free diving range. I also love to gather and consume both Pectin and Rock scallops...on SCUBA. Unlike commercial or even private fisherman, on SCUBA I have a unique opportunity to be merciful and selective.....with no collateral reef impact. I also have no chance of harming or killing any unintended "bycatch" that most definitely happens in the process of providing meals for folks in their favorite restaurants. I am NEVER at all interested in scoring the "big fish". I ALWAYS target the smaller males and NEVER shoot the large female breeders.....and I enforce that general philosophy for anyone on my boat... I have found that the males typically have more of a "torpedo" or "bullet" shaped head and the females have a more rounded blunt shaped head. I also do not hunt Lingcod in the early season (March / April when they are more likely to be breeding. Females lay the nest and then the males guard it.
The crabs know what's about to happen. When I take one anywhere near an octo den they go nuts. Just tooling around with them and they are unhappy but a whole lot less aggressive with it. Drop one near the entrance and they gtf out of dodge and don't care what you're doing or where you're at. They want nothing to do with those 8 legged aliens.
LOL, I've eaten quite a few wolf eels that I have speared. Now that I recall, I got in an epic battle once while trying to subdue one while freediving and quite literally nearly drowned. I had, until just now, forgotten about that incident.
Kelp crabs deserve it. Those f#ckers always want to fight as you go by them.
I fed one to a wolf eel once. The crab really, really didn't want to go there.
