Spearfishing on Scuba

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It's illegal to spearfish on scuba in Palau. Years ago I went spearfishing on scuba in Palau. We all filled our bags in an hour. We had lobster as well. As we were approaching the dock our Palauan friends started hiding the fish. I asked why and of course he told me it's illegal to use scuba to spear. Seeing how easily we all filled our bags it was easy to see why this law is in place. If it were legal it wouldn't take a month to clean out all the reasonable sized reef fish (egg laying females) it that area. Then we could just move to another area and clean it out. We could go at night when fish are sleeping and fill our bags even easier.

These laws are in place to help maintain the balance and allow fish to populate. Depending on the location, different laws are being but into place. I know there are some very good spearfisherman out there that do not use scuba. There are not enough to impact the population. I believe most good spearfishman support the ban on using scuba to spear fish. The ocean may seem so big that we cannot impact it but this is not true. We have to create laws to help maintain the fish population for our children. The ban on scuba spearfishing is one of them. Adventure-Ocean
 
It's illegal to spearfish on scuba in Palau. Years ago I went spearfishing on scuba in Palau. We all filled our bags in an hour. We had lobster as well. As we were approaching the dock our Palauan friends started hiding the fish. I asked why and of course he told me it's illegal to use scuba to spear. Seeing how easily we all filled our bags it was easy to see why this law is in place. If it were legal it wouldn't take a month to clean out all the reasonable sized reef fish (egg laying females) it that area. Then we could just move to another area and clean it out. We could go at night when fish are sleeping and fill our bags even easier.

These laws are in place to help maintain the balance and allow fish to populate. Depending on the location, different laws are being but into place. I know there are some very good spearfisherman out there that do not use scuba. There are not enough to impact the population. I believe most good spearfishman support the ban on using scuba to spear fish. The ocean may seem so big that we cannot impact it but this is not true. We have to create laws to help maintain the fish population for our children. The ban on scuba spearfishing is one of them. Adventure-Ocean

How are free divers going to be less deadly than scuba divers with spearguns???
 
Since you typically kill one fish with one breath... how many drops to 60 feet (or more) AND score a fish do you think you're gonna make in a day?
 
How are free divers going to be less deadly than scuba divers with spearguns???

Scuba fisherman can stay down longer and shoot more fish. A good spearfisherman with scuba is going to get more fish than a good spearfisherman free diving.

The impact between scuba and freediving when it comes to killing fish has been logged in many places for many years. It is not a maybe. It's hard everywhere to ask people to not hunt in a manner that is very successfull. It takes time to educate people about the fragile balance we maintain on earth. The world tuna population is falling fast and the reef fish are following. There are still people using dynamite to fish. We clearly have much more work to do help keep the world's fish population healthy.

Adventure-Ocean
 
Scuba fisherman can stay down longer and shoot more fish. A good spearfisherman with scuba is going to get more fish than a good spearfisherman free diving.

The impact between scuba and freediving when it comes to killing fish has been logged in many places for many years. It is not a maybe. It's hard everywhere to ask people to not hunt in a manner that is very successfull. It takes time to educate people about the fragile balance we maintain on earth. The world tuna population is falling fast and the reef fish are following. There are still people using dynamite to fish. We clearly have much more work to do help keep the world's fish population healthy.

Adventure-Ocean

Although I'd love to debate your assumptions and false information that are out of line with experience and facts but this has nothing to do with the OP. However, my primary question has to do if there are any states or locales that prohibit spearfishing on scuba. Do you have anything to contribute with this regard please?
 
Is there any logical/scientific/rational reason for some countries in the world to prohibit spearfishing on scuba when, at the same time, it doesn't makes the same restriction on spearfishing while free-diving

I tried to answer this question. I worked with the Federated States of Micronesia and Guam on this issue. The laws to prohibit scuba spearfishing "anywhere" are there for ecological reasons. Free diving spearfisherman impact the shallow water fish while the scuba spearfisherman impact the larger egg laying fish that tend to be deeper.

The marine laboratory where I worked and the Department of Fish and Wildlife have conducted many fish counting surveys on the islands in the Federated States of Micronesia as well as Guam and Hawaii. They have produced real data that proves scuba fisherman are impacting fish population more than the free diver. I hope this answered your question.
 
I tried to answer this question. I worked with the Federated States of Micronesia and Guam on this issue. The laws to prohibit scuba spearfishing "anywhere" are there for ecological reasons. Free diving spearfisherman impact the shallow water fish while the scuba spearfisherman impact the larger egg laying fish that tend to be deeper.

The marine laboratory where I worked and the Department of Fish and Wildlife have conducted many fish counting surveys on the islands in the Federated States of Micronesia as well as Guam and Hawaii. They have produced real data that proves scuba fisherman are impacting fish population more than the free diver. I hope this answered your question.

You mean the politically biased reports?? So spearos on Scuba are impacting fish population in deep water but fishermen aren't? It can't be because the fishing industry has more money and political clout that you can't handle, can it?

---------- Post added May 11th, 2014 at 09:54 PM ----------

And the deeper waters where scuba divers have incredibly very little time and have to work even harder to spear fish, bag it and carry it with them all of the time while underwater and not be able to come up to the surface only at the end of the short dive?
 
Back to your original question (and I'm part guilty of derailing it, LOL) ... I read through a couple different state's regs, and I haven't found anything that prohibits spearfishing while scuba diving vs. free diving. But then again, I haven't read ALL the state's regs either. Happy reading!
 

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