Spear Fishing teaches fish to fear divers

[itsjust.mark]

....;l

 

[falcon125]

Unless it gets eaten by another predator.
I think photographers can also cause the same wariness in fish behavior. Fish seem acutely aware of any aggression, even just staring at them.

As a hunter I have found that all animals are aware of you staring at them. People seem to have lost this ability.

When you pay to go scuba diving your paying for a boat ride, If you see lots of fish thats a bonus. You have no more right to the fish than the person that spears it.

As far as spearfishermen causing fish to be more skittish, I dont think so. But I'm not a fish.

 

[TMHeimer]

This is a slightly new twist to a very old SB topic. I carry a small "poke" stick and "spear" maybe 4-6 flounders a year to eat. So I'm not "really" a spearo. Who am I to argue with any statistic that says fish learn to fear spearos? But I have a gut feeling this is probably a stretch in most places. Maybe if a certain exact area is constantly spearfished?? I don't look at spearfishing while free diving OR on scuba to have anything at all to do with "playing fair", giving the fish a fighting chance, etc. It has to do with just being something some divers like to do, and about eating your catch. I think very few fail to realize that it is without a doubt the most ecologically conscious way to catch fish. As far as someone killing a fish you paid to see: Many many charter ops do not allow spearfishing. Go on one of those. Ask ahead of time at the shop, and if spearfishing is to take place DON'T GO!! It's a world of difference easier to find a boat not allowing spearfishing than it is for me to find one that does allow shell collecting. There's plenty of ocean for all of us.

 

[Paladin]

Back in the 1940s, when JYC was first exploring his "Silent World," the fish would crowd around him and Dumas in curiosity. The divers began carrying pole spears to take a few fish each dive to supplement their wartime diet. The fish soon learned to stay just out of reach of the pole spears and were harder to catch. The divers switched to spear guns and, for a while, were bringing fish home for dinner again. That is, until the fish learned the range of the guns and started staying just outside that range. JYC noted that if the divers carried no weapons, the fish would crowd in just as before. But if the divers carried weapons, the fish would stay just out of range of that particular weapon. They would swim closer to a diver carrying a pole spear than they would a diver with a spear gun, and crowd right in on an unarmed diver.

 

[Bob DBF]

Back in the 1940s, when JYC was first exploring his "Silent World," the fish would crowd around him and Dumas in curiosity. The divers began carrying pole spears to take a few fish each dive to supplement their wartime diet. The fish soon learned to stay just out of reach of the pole spears and were harder to catch. The divers switched to spear guns and, for a while, were bringing fish home for dinner again. That is, until the fish learned the range of the guns and started staying just outside that range. JYC noted that if the divers carried no weapons, the fish would crowd in just as before. But if the divers carried weapons, the fish would stay just out of range of that particular weapon. They would swim closer to a diver carrying a pole spear than they would a diver with a spear gun, and crowd right in on an unarmed diver.

Did he mention the aversion the fish had for hand grenades?


Bob
---------------------------------
I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[2 Big 2 Fail]

Telephone magnetos, too. Yet oddly, neither was ever standard lifeboat equipment for castaways. Of course, neither has much application for divers. Both are about as hard on the diver as on the fish.

 

[captain]

Back in the 1940s, when JYC was first exploring his "Silent World," the fish would crowd around him and Dumas in curiosity. The divers began carrying pole spears to take a few fish each dive to supplement their wartime diet. The fish soon learned to stay just out of reach of the pole spears and were harder to catch. The divers switched to spear guns and, for a while, were bringing fish home for dinner again. That is, until the fish learned the range of the guns and started staying just outside that range. JYC noted that if the divers carried no weapons, the fish would crowd in just as before. But if the divers carried weapons, the fish would stay just out of range of that particular weapon. They would swim closer to a diver carrying a pole spear than they would a diver with a spear gun, and crowd right in on an unarmed diver.

I have the same experience diving the oil rigs. If I have no speargun the fish stay around, they see a speargun and move away or hide. I have observed this when first entering the water with no gun and then returning to the boat and getting a gun. when I comeback with the gun they would scatter.

 

[Zieg]

Which is why I tell some of the guys to every so often turn around and look at what's behind them.

 

[Paladin]

Just the presence of divers in the water will change the behavior of fish. At Twin Quarries in Circleville, OH, divers have been feeding the fish for so long that they now see divers as a primary source of food. As a result, the fish have become aggressive to the point of being obnoxious. They follow divers around, trying to nibble on any exposed skin. Just getting into the water gives one an eerie feeling with a hundred or more hungry fish waiting at the bottom of the entry steps, staring up at you.

The fish at TQ have lost all fear of humans and it is a very good thing that bluegill and bass do not have substantial teeth. Even so, last fall, my friend made the mistake of diving without a wetsuit and shirtless. The fish were all over him, nibbling him and plucking at his body hair. One big, largemouth bass swept in and bit him on the nipple and actually brought blood.

Seeing how the feeding of supposedly harmless freshwater fish conditions them to look on humans as a food source and greatly increases their aggressiveness, I have to doubt the wisdom of shark feeding dives for tourists.

 

[TMHeimer]

I must stand corrected. There seems to be a lot of personal experiences that show that fish somehow understand guns, food, etc. The only thing I "fear" or don't like about spearos is the one in a thousand chance they might shoot me by mistake. Probably as likely as being killed by a shark--but that's another thing I think about a little. I never understand the feeding of sharks for tourists. I love to see sharks--on the Discovery Channel. But I'm out of step with most divers again on that one.