Mini season takes its toll

[Tienuts]

Had this conversation loads of times , but hear goes ........ It need to be banned , I know its a big winner $$ wise but the damage in human life ( I know you cant help stupid) it causes year in and year out is unacceptiable , not to mention the damage it does to the reefs . For god sakes you can hunt the damn things almost year round , why have 2 openings days ? at the very least limit the licensing to FL residence only ,to atleast cut down on some the the yahoo's towning boats down from every freakin state in the union who mostly have neve been in the water down here .

I agree it should be banned, and I'm also not so sure how much of a $$ winner it is. Think of all the taxpayer money wasted every time the Coasties have to rescue some idiot. Just to turn the ignition key on one of those rescue aircraft must be 10 grand in fuel.

 

[Capt Scotty]

It won't go away. My suggestion is to raise the price of the lobster endorsment from $2 to $20. This increase will not deter the masses. The additional $18 should then be divided between enforcement, environmental restoratoin, and education.

Safe dives
trtldvr
www.divealive.org

I wouldn't mind paying the extra $18 for that.

 

[Faust]

On another rant , here on the Gulf Side , pretty much anywhere south of St pete it is very very rare that the Costies will even fire up the big birds to fly down . Eats up too much of the Golden hour , most folks dont realise that here once you are 20 or so miles off shore you are on your own .

 

[Capt Scotty]

I think FWC should watch out for dangerous boaters and stop them and have other FWC checking in at ports of call for all the other BULL that you must need to be out on the water....
If they didn't spend so much time stopping people and checking their boats they could be watching out for the people in the water and making sure they are safe.
I agree I think soemone who rents a boat from out of state should have a boaters saftey course before allowing them to rent the boat and I also think the license shoudl cost them more money than the people who live here all year around. I don't think stopping mini season is a cure because it would be just as bad as open day but 100 times worse because we have some who don't coem on one but come on the other whic would make the waters sooooooo unsafe. at least now they are breaking up the mayham a little.

Last week and again today I had a park rental boat try and tie up to my float line because they thought it was a mooring ball. It only takes a credit card to rent a boat at the park, not a brain.

 

[dkramer]

Last week and again today I had a park rental boat try and tie up to my float line because they thought it was a mooring ball. It only takes a credit card to rent a boat at the park, not a brain.

Oh my!

 

[Divergirl4U]

Thought it was a mooring ball

 

[Jrock1062]

why get rid of mini season? if you do then the first day of the official season will be just as bad. I am not a heartless SOB but it is your responsibility to know what you are doing and to take care of yourself. This can be a very unforgiving sport, everyone who dives regularly knows that. You shouldn't punish those who do it right for the yahoos who are clueless. It is there responsibility to know what they are doing.It is up to them be in shape check there gear know there tables if they don't it is not the fault of mini season, advertisers, lobsters, hunters or anyone else its theirs.If they aren't aware of these things and they pay with there life its because of them and no one else

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Getting rid of mini season won't save anyone. How about a little personal responsibility every so often. Guess what, at my advanced state of decay if I walked into a bar and decided to punch the biggest toughest guy in there I'm going to have to accept the fact that I'm about to get my butt killed. Same goes for diving. If you're outta shape, nervous, inexperienced and decide to dive the Doria?

Bad things are going to happen.

Shouldn't shut down the Doria any more than you should shut down mini season.

 

[Sonet]

Last week and again today I had a park rental boat try and tie up to my float line because they thought it was a mooring ball. It only takes a credit card to rent a boat at the park, not a brain.

:11: That is awesome!!! What an idiot. The state definitely needs to make having a license a requirement. Back home they made us get licenses. If you were caught operating a boat without a licence you would go to jail

 

[DebbyDiver]

I see no reason to cancel mini-season. When you think of the huge numbers of people out there, the number of deaths is pretty small. These same people would die if they went out on the first day of regular season.

You just can't legislate stupidity. Sorry if I sound harsh about it but these people would kill themselves in one manner or another eventually, why spoil mini-season for the rest of us?

If anything, these few deaths DO make other people aware of the danger and hopefully scares off other inexperienced divers or at least makes them more careful.

By the way we went out of Hillsboro Inlet both days and we did NOT see great numbers of goofballs out there. Yes, we had a few people come too close but we have that all 52 weekends of the year regardless of the season.

We were boarded the second day, on the way back home on the ICW, and the very polite officer looked at our catch, congratulated us for following the law and went on his way.

Did anyone have much luck in Broward? I got enough both days to be happy, but nowhere near my limit...last year and this year were very disappointing.