Killing Aquatic life?

[ROE'N]

WOW!, interesting opinions out there. I happen to be a Sea Urchin harvester. Most of you should get your facts straight . Urchins live 3 or 4 years. They are a source of food for many creatures. The ocean is a source of food for humans too! Indiscriminate killing is never a good thing,but the cycle of life does mean eating is necessary. Let me tell you how many urchins there are. Urchins eat the kelp forest that you all dive in . Cracking a few urchins and feeding some fish might save some kelp that your kids might not see. So I say crack 'em, eat'em,feed some fish! By the way,it's obvious that most of you don't eat!

 

[Air On]

I've neve seen this on a dive myself...
I don't think killing things for entertainment is a good idea.

I do support taking responsibility to kill something for your own food (rather then having someone else do it.)

On the other hand though.. the West coast is having serious issues with the urchin population that is taking over and destroying the eco system. For what ever reasons... it is an issues.

Just as with the land animals that start having population explosions they end up sickening and over grazing, thinning is a good thing and ofent saves the animals from worse issues.

The east coast / Bahamas is suffering from a Lion Fish invasion... how many people have you seen trying to kill off some of the lion fish to save the eco system there? This is similar to the invasion of the Starlings (a bird) that was brought to the Americas as pets and displaced many other native birds...

As I child I was given a quarter for every statling I could kill. I tried my best to make a dent in the Starling population for a few years... not that anyone would have noticed.

Honestly I don't know if the limited numbers of sport divers could even hope to make a dent in the urchin population if the activly tried to thin them out?

If a commercial harvest of them started I could see it havin an impact but not from one or two bein killed.

Not saying its responsible diving, until they start asking divers to help thin them out... but I know I've seen massive walls of urchins in the Sea of Cortez that had eaten clear the surfaces they were on.

I'll not participate but i can't say its harming the overall population...

 

[Straegen]

I don't think killing things for entertainment is a good idea.

PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad is Today's BIG Thing in Entertainment - JAN 29, 2009

I am all for killing plants specifically veggies now! I don't know how many veggies were killed to make that commercial entertaining and I don't care.

 

[Mr.X]

WOW!, interesting opinions out there. I happen to be a Sea Urchin harvester. Most of you should get your facts straight . Urchins live 3 or 4 years.

Some facts below for Strongylocentrotus franciscanus:

Red sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus) along the west coast of North America, like most large sea urchins in temperate waters worldwide, are the focus of a commercially important fishery. In a review of biological data for purposes of fishery management, the life span of red sea urchins was suggested to be 7-10 years (Sloan, 1986) and they have been included with much shorter-lived species for illustrating complex population dynamics (Hastings and Higgins, 1994).

Red sea urchin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has data which suggest a life span over 30 years.

X

 

[shoredivr]

I watched a program on aging a few weeks ago. One of the scientists was going to use sea urchins as a model for looking at DNA changes over time during the lifespan of an animal. He assumed that sea urchins lived about 6 or 7 years.

As they got into analysis of the sea urchins, they noticed that there was a band along the spines that corresponded with a high level of an odd isotope from a nuclear test back in the '50's. That put the age of the sea urchin at over 100 years!

11-04-03 RED SEA URCHINS DISCOVERED TO BE ONE OF EARTH'S OLDEST ANIMALS

Ian

That was interesting.

 

[dpbishop]

Of all the environmental crimes I have seen committed by scuba divers, cracking open a sea urchin probably ranks near the bottom in terms of adverse effect. When I used to spear fish I would crack an urchin to draw fish, then shoot the fish. I ate the fish, other fish ate the urchin, nothing goes to waste. Now when I dive I am more interested in observing fish in their natural state, so I don't do the urchin thing, but one should remember that one of the natural predators of the urchins are sea otters, which were hunted almost to extinction, so a little urchin cracking just helps to restore some balance.

 

[NudeDiver]

Let's see... does anybody know the difference between a hunter who kills a deer to eat and a guy who buys a hamburger at McDonalds??? A: The hunter does't do his killing by proxy.

The hunter is getting meat. The McDonald's patron could be getting anything - with meat, of some kind, as one of the possibilities.

 

[J.R.]

The hunter is getting meat. The McDonald's patron could be getting anything - with meat, of some kind, as one of the possibilities.

Good point... the hunter at least knows what he's eating... but in either case... *something* croaked...

 

[NudeDiver]

Good point... the hunter at least knows what he's eating... but in either case... *something* croaked...

I think you're giving McDonald's too much credit. Have you been there lately? Their hamburgers could be something whipped up in a lab for all we know. There isn't any proof that whatever is in a McDonald's hamburger was once a living thing

 

[J.R.]

I think you're giving McDonald's too much credit. Have you been there lately? Their hamburgers could be something whipped up in a lab for all we know. There isn't any proof that whatever is in a McDonald's hamburger was once a living thing

I must say you make a persuasive case...