Divers vs. Spearfishing sites

I want to reach out to my fellow divers but I first must state that I am not taking a stand right or wrong, good or bad, on spearfishing.
I have noticed a change in the behaviors of the predators (sharks) on the shipwrecks I have been used to diving. I noticed that they are more curious and seem to get closer than on many, many previous dives (especially on night dives). The observational difference that I have noticed is that I am sharing my dives with spearfisherpeople. My concerns are that now the predators are associating divers with a food source; hence the closer, more enquisitive contact. Will this lead to a dangerous situation???

I would like some other observations/opinions. I am of the mind that we should not share recreational dive sites with hunting sites. I do not speak of this with ignorance; I am an animal behaviorist and have worked with sharks and other predators in many captive and wild environments. I only ask for your help and advice because I want to provide a safe and enjoyable divesite for recreational divers (and my students). Should we separate recreational dive sites with sites for hunting????

Thanks to all and happy diving!

People have been spearfishing a lot longer than you have been diving. I promise the critters aren't more or less aggressive than they were say 30 years ago.

LOL, "safe and enjoyable divesite for recreational divers (and my students)."
I don't think your needs supersede those of the spear fisherman.

To answer your question, no they shouldn't be separated. I doubt fish are more aggressive near your students because people are shooting fish in the area. It's a big ocean. If you're not comfortable, dive elsewhere.

Not that I want to get involved in a conflict of users ... but I have seen fish behavior change within a very short period of time ... a year or two ... once certain species start to associate divers with lunch. In our area, that happens primarily with the wolf eels, because people like to entice them out of their dens by offering them food.

Ask Peter Guy how aggressive they can get ... there was this time at Day Island Wall when he had to fend off a big one with his scooter, because it mistook his white drygloves for a handful of squid, and kept wanting to eat his fingers. That is not normal wolfie behavior ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

h2ogypsy:

I want to reach out to my fellow divers but I first must state that I am not taking a stand right or wrong, good or bad, on spearfishing.
I have noticed a change in the behaviors of the predators (sharks) on the shipwrecks I have been used to diving. I noticed that they are more curious and seem to get closer than on many, many previous dives (especially on night dives). The observational difference that I have noticed is that I am sharing my dives with spearfisherpeople. My concerns are that now the predators are associating divers with a food source; hence the closer, more enquisitive contact. Will this lead to a dangerous situation???

I would like some other observations/opinions. I am of the mind that we should not share recreational dive sites with hunting sites. I do not speak of this with ignorance; I am an animal behaviorist and have worked with sharks and other predators in many captive and wild environments. I only ask for your help and advice because I want to provide a safe and enjoyable divesite for recreational divers (and my students). Should we separate recreational dive sites with sites for hunting????

Thanks to all and happy diving!

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How you plan to separate the recreational sites from the hunting sites? You are an animal behaviorist, apparently that does not include human animal behavior.

Good luck with all that. There are sharks in the ocean, at least for a few more years, if your students are frightened by them they should stay in fresh water.

N

Superlyte27:

People have been spearfishing a lot longer than you have been diving. I promise the critters aren't more or less aggressive than they were say 30 years ago.

LOL, "safe and enjoyable divesite for recreational divers (and my students)."
I don't think your needs supersede those of the spear fisherman.

To answer your question, no they shouldn't be separated. I doubt fish are more aggressive near your students because people are shooting fish in the area. It's a big ocean. If you're not comfortable, dive elsewhere.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your opinion. Happy Diving to you

---------- Post added March 10th, 2013 at 10:43 PM ----------

Nemrod:

How you plan to separate the recreational sites from the hunting sites? You are an animal behaviorist, apparently that does not include human animal behavior.

Good luck with all that. There are sharks in the ocean, at least for a few more years, if your students are frightened by them they should stay in fresh water.

N

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I have devoted much of my life to animal behavior; certainly human behavior comes into play with that. I do not post things without much thought and proof behind my observations. But I do thank you kindly for your opinion. Happy and safe diving to you

There has been a change in the behavior of predators in areas where people are actively culling lionfish. Although they are great eating, I mostly see lion fishers giving them as snacks to the local predators. As such, they ARE associating divers with easy food. Most spearos would never offer a game fish to them, but lions....I've seen it a lot.

This is the first I've heard of sharks' behavior changed due to spearfishing. Possibly--I have no idea. I have been on boats that also have spearos but if I had a choice I'd prefer none because I might get accidently speared. For that danger, one can always just ask if any are coming, or for that matter if the area has been spearfished a lot. As pointed out, I agree-- don't think there is any real way to divide up the ocean that way. I go on whichever boat goes out the one time or so all winter on the panhandle. Don't give it any thought, and I don't like sharks.

As a rec (not wreck) diver as well as a spearfisherman (usually freedive only) I can say please don't restrict access/use of any more water for spearfishing. I know there are multiple areas around the country that are protected areas (in CA called MLPA's) where there is no take allowed. This affects not only recreational (?) spearfishers but also commercial fishers, and commerce that your average hook and line angler brings to an area.

As far as the spearo's feeding fish, none of the ones I know in CA will leave anything more than gills and guts in the water. And that usually is after they are done for the day heading home, at the surface. IMO worldwide, we tend to be highly selective of what we shoot and anything we shoot we want to keep. Guys go to great lengths to prevent any signs of a distressed fish being telegraphed through the water and in high-risk areas, they get the fish out of the water asap.

In sum- no I don't think there should be any dive sites that are non-spearing unless there is a more pertinent reason (fishing regs etc). The likelyhood of a SCUBA diver being shot by accident is really pretty low IMO and should be even lower if the shooter is on SCUBA as well. If you're that worried about it, please go dive in already protected areas.

Dive safe and happy diving.

I see both sides of this issue. On the one hand, there's an inherent conflict of interest between those who go to view and photograph animals and those who go to harvest them. On the other, each of those two interests has an equal right to the resource. MPA's generally exist as a means of resource management ... and those are a good place for people whose interest is non-consumptive.

I'm generally not in favor of too much restriction on hunting, unless it's to protect the viability of the species. There are, of course, also considerations when the resource itself is very limited ... in which case one has to make a decision as to which use serves the interests of the greater number of people. But one has to be careful about adding more controls on something like hunting, because it's a sure-fire way of increasing the demand to do it. For that reason alone, unless there's a very compelling reason, it's better to figure out how to share resources than it is to decide which group has precedence over the other.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

h2ogypsy:

I have noticed a change in the behaviors of the predators (sharks) on the shipwrecks I have been used to diving. I noticed that they are more curious and seem to get closer than on many, many previous dives (especially on night dives). The observational difference that I have noticed is that I am sharing my dives with spearfisherpeople. My concerns are that now the predators are associating divers with a food source; hence the closer, more enquisitive contact. Will this lead to a dangerous situation???

Click to expand...

First I have no dog(or fish) in this hunt. I dive but don't spearfish. That said, since you asked for opinions, perhaps your observation needs to be expanded to also include observing the difference in the increase of total numbers of divers now as opposed when you started. As an animal behaviorist you are no doubt aware of the fact that familiarity and repetition is a major component of relaxing caution and desensitizing.
And that all human wild animal contact will start to cause a change in behavior. On the other hand if the spearfishing activity is in fact having the effect of predator species getting fed, then yes indeed it would definitely be causal in contributing the aggregate change in at least in the proximity behavior. Weather that change in behavior will actually equate to a heightened level of aggression is speculation until observationally proven. Particularly if the species is not already known to be overtly aggressive.

For example on this shark dive in Roatan in Feb. The Reef sharks come right in close among the divers (because they know that at end of the dive, they will be fed and it will be from a bucket with the lid poped off and tossed well away from any divers) Even with 15 or so sharks and 10 divers, I observed no (even remotely) aggressive behavior towards the divers .
Including this beautiful 10 ft. female that stopped momentarily 3 ft. in front of me and looked straight at me. Did she want me to get the hook out of jaw ? It's possible but pure speculation. I do hope it falls out quickly.