Sad day for Blue Heron Bridge

[archman]

I spent hours when I was younger trying to get a couple fish with a slurp gun. I did slightly better with large clear nets, but it was still a total PITA. I would guess that it is much easier with professional training. But still, how many live fish can a professional collector bring in on a single dive? It can't be that many can it? Do you stick them in a bag or something while you're down there? And then how do you haul them all out of the water and get them over to the truck? Is there a crew that collects them in the water and moves them into buckets or something?

 

[gypsyjim]

I spent hours when I was younger trying to get a couple fish with a slurp gun. I did slightly better with large clear nets, but it was still a total PITA. I would guess that it is much easier with professional training. But still, how many live fish can a professional collector bring in on a single dive? It can't be that many can it? Do you stick them in a bag or something while you're down there? And then how do you haul them all out of the water and get them over to the truck? Is there a crew that collects them in the water and moves them into buckets or something?

Are you asking for help in learning how to do your own aquarium collecting?

 

[Pebbles Photo]

JIm Abernethy debunks the PR piece by Moody Gardens. This is awsome! This is Sandra Edwards, Dan Volker's wife posting this. Dan was the person that got the collectors out of the water Saturday morning, and began the sh*tstorm that is now raining down on Moody and Texas A&M. You can ask Dan questions about this here....better still, ask the moderators to allow Dan to post again on Scubaboard...he promises to play nice from now on, after his lengthy exile from scubaboard

 

[Pebbles Photo]

The truck the collectors used to transport fish between Palm Beach and Fort Piece daily....Of course they would use this for moving 7 fish per day...

 

[Biminibill]

I spent hours when I was younger trying to get a couple fish with a slurp gun. I did slightly better with large clear nets, but it was still a total PITA. I would guess that it is much easier with professional training. But still, how many live fish can a professional collector bring in on a single dive? It can't be that many can it? Do you stick them in a bag or something while you're down there? And then how do you haul them all out of the water and get them over to the truck? Is there a crew that collects them in the water and moves them into buckets or something?

A blind man with a pillow case could catch more than Moody is claiming. The entire Moody position is a whitewash with industrial grade paint. Their lying, period.

 

[hilljo88]

JIm Abernethy debunks the PR piece by Moody Gardens. This is awsome! This is Sandra Edwards, Dan Volker's wife posting this. Dan was the person that got the collectors out of the water Saturday morning, and began the sh*tstorm that is now raining down on Moody and Texas A&M. You can ask Dan questions about this here....better still, ask the moderators to allow Dan to post again on Scubaboard...he promises to play nice from now on, after his lengthy exile from scubaboard

Wow. Thanks for posting. I might believe Moody if they said they didn’t intend to decimate BHB, but to be in denial like this is infuriating. Some folks should be fired for this.

 

[kelemvor]

IT WAS NOT A COLLECTION COMPANY! It was three idiot graduate students from Texas A&M sent my Moody to catch fish and invertebrates. Commercial Florida collectors, including me in the thirty years I was in the trade, would NEVER target a popular dive site.

Why are you attacking me about this nuance? All the statements thus far by moody and eyewitnesses say they were professional collectors. I didn't make it up. I'm not sure what your angle is... are you trying to dissuade people such as myself from denouncing the actions of the aquarium and their agents?

Personally, I don't see why that nuance is even important.

 

[Colliam7]

I have to admit, Jim's video is somewhat damning to Moody and Texas A&M. A sure way to make a bad situation worse is to lie about it. And, Jim is essentially saying that Moody is lying, about something they shouldn't have ethically done to begin with.

There are usually two (or more) sides to situations like this. But, if the two sides are reflected by the Moody video and Jim's video analysis, from my perspective Jim's is far more compelling.

 

[lowviz]

This whole hot mess is what you get in the absence of any oversight. They had a permit and quite possibly impounding the truck for a confirming count would have been excessive under their permit. The rules are that they are operating on their word. Deal with it.

What is done is done. Make damn sure it never happens again. Ban all collecting from those 'three' sites. Let the FWC decide when the site is ready for honest collectors and VERIFY THE COUNT AND SPECIES before departure.

 

[Nick Steele]

Does anyone have the video showing the 100+ fish in a single cooler? I looked but couldn’t find it.

I believe that 50 fish and “12” inverts survived the trip and that’s the number they are stating as collected. Although in reality I could see 1000+ being the real number.

I love the bridge and have been there over the past 4 yrs snorkeling and diving. I look forward to many more and hopefully we can get the Ban put into effect in December!