Today's haul at Five Caves... will it never end?

[Shaka Doug]

Today's haul at Five Caves... will it never end?

I love diving Five Caves (aka "Five Graves", "Turtle Town" and "Nahuna Point") here on Maui. It's pretty much one of my favorite shore dives ever. I've made at least about 500 or more dives there and I know the site very well.

Something that really bugs me about the place is the huge amount of fishing debris I continually find there. On each dive I make at this location I try to pick up the lost fishing weights and tangled line. You would think that after 11 years I'd have the place mostly cleaned up by now.....hardly the case.

A few times I've collected quite a large amount of lead and have photographed the haul, intending to one day post something about the problem right here on Scubaboard. Well, I guess today is the day I start with the posts.

I'm posting some pics of a typical score. One of the saddest parts is I can do this time and time again, only days apart, I can get another pocket full of lead, hooks, leaders and crap. Do the fishermen understand what they are doing when they bottom fish in the coral reefs? I don't see this as a sustainable practice, do you? From my observations, there's really nothing left out there to catch....especially with the giant hooks they like to use. Unfortunately, I do see lots of turtles and reef sharks with the hooks imbedded in their jaws and fins / flippers.

Here's some photographic evidence for you to consider:

The last four photos are all taken very close to one another, just a few days apart, in the same exact area. (Now I wish I had taken photos of my find each time I dove there.) What do you think I'll come back with next time???

Here's another reason that the fishing debris is uncool:



Sea Turtle with about ten feet of fishing line caught in her front flipper at Ulua Beach.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can stop this? The reefs could really use a break!

 

[ScubaSteve]

Short of banning fishing (which I cannot see happening), I would say that it will be difficult. A snagged fishing line does not exactly fall under the control of the fisherman. It is outside their control so there is little they can do (IMO). I would expect that most of them would rather NOT lose the items that you are fishing out. The only thing that I could really suggest is sell all of the items you collect and put that money towards something that helps the reefs.

I think it is great what you are doing but unfortunately some things fall outside of a fisherman's control.

 

[Oside Jimc]

Doug,
Thank-You for taking the time to help clean up the reef!

I think it is great what you are doing but unfortunately some things fall outside of a fisherman's control.

A disagree, a fisherman hes control over the chosen location and choice of tackle. As Doug noted bottom fishing on a coral reef only serves to chew up tackle and destroy the reef.

The only plus I see from Doug's photos is the use of circle hooks instead of "J" hooks, these are much less likely to become accidently snagged on something like a turtle fin, but this is a pretty marginal plus.

 

[ScubaSteve]

A disagree, a fisherman hes control over the chosen location and choice of tackle. As Doug noted bottom fishing on a coral reef only serves to chew up tackle and destroy the reef.

The only plus I see from Doug's photos is the use of circle hooks instead of "J" hooks, these are much less likely to become accidently snagged on something like a turtle fin, but this is a pretty marginal plus.

OK but snags are possible (and inevitable eventually) no matter what is used so while a fisherman can try to minimize the occurances by selecting different tackle, it still happens. And as for the "chosen reef", it boils down to the ability to enforce fishing area restrictions. If "you" (not you personally) are capable of limiting the locations where fishing is allowed and are capable of enforcing that, then that is what my original post started out with - banning (I do not see that happening personally). That is the only way to guarantee that this stops. Failing that, there is no guarantee IMO.

 

[Shaka Doug]

I'm not trying to put the blame on anyone with this post. Just trying to bring some attention to the problem. I'm not against fishing either but there's got to be a better, smarter way to go about it. That lead is expensive and the prices have recently gone way up. Same with the hooks and leaders / swivels, etc. When you think about how much the lost tackle costs it's hardly worth it when you could just go buy the fish you need at a market.

There are lot's of places here in 'Paradise' that are even worse. I'm just doing my part to clean up when I can. I don't mind picking up the stuff and it can even be fun scavenging for it sometimes. I've sold some of the lead I've recovered over the years. It's some nice beer money once in a while! Last summer I sold my collection on Craigslist. When the fisherman came to get it we weighed it....I had 675lbs worth!!! That got me quite a bit of my favorite green bottle beverage.

It's fun to recycle!

Here's an old joke I've heard about fishing....(please don't be offended, it's just a joke)

"Fishing: just a jerk on one end waiting for a jerk on the other end!"

 

[smellzlikefish]

Nice haul and thanks for lending a hand! The UH Dive Safety Program takes their class to Port Lock on Oahu every semester and does a clean up there. I helped out last time and forgot how much weight it was exactly, but it was more than 200 pounds of lead from just the shallows alone. The fishing practices here leave the reefs littered with stuff. If only the people could take up a more conservation-minded approach to their fishing techniques, the reefs would look much better.

 

[rgbmatt]

Although it's true that lost fishing tackle can be a nuisance and an eyesore, it's important to keep in mind that many people do enjoy fishing at a pastime and, to them, scuba divers can be a nuisance because we get in the way and scare away the fish.

If I'm diving in an area with a lot of lost sinkers, I usually try to grab a bunch and, after the dive, either hand them off to one of the guys fishing or leave them in a nice pile near the rod holders so that someone else can use them. It's an easy way to help out other ocean users.

It's also handy to keep the sinkers you collect and make dive weights out of them. You can also sell it for scrap - lead isn't worth much per pound but after a lot if diving it adds up.

 

[mpd525]

I agree with doug 100%, i seen it with my own 2 eyes, and even hauled some of that mess up, see the photos, i'm the goofy guy in the yellow mask, lol. but he told us that if we seen it on the dive to grab it or let him know it was there, and he would take it. during that same dive, i don't know how many times, i had to cut lines that were strung across the reef, that could entangle turtles, and at least once, and unsuspecting diver, or someone not paying attention could get caught in it. Maybe they should restrict the areas where these guys fish. I don't live here, but i can see as how it's a problem. keep up the work Doug, and looking forward to that night dive tom nite!!

 

[discdogs]

Looks like an all too familiar site. Thanks for the pics Doug. Did you find who the keys belong to? or did you try the keys in the cars at the parking lot? (just kidding)

 

[Shaka Doug]

Hey Discdogs...the keys are mine...I just put them in there for size comparison...you can see some of these weights are pretty big! Up to 9 oz!

Here's the next dives take. I went out on the 29th (just three days later after two days of rain...probably no fishing activity) and pulled out another pocketful. This was so heavy that it was twisting my BC and throwing my balance off. Looks like I have to fill both sides next time.

To add insult to injury, as we were finishing the dive a turtle came by us with a large circle hook imbedded in it's right front flipper. There was about two feet of stainless leader with a swivel thing at the end. Perfect for getting caught in a small crack and snagging on something.

She must have been in pain because she only swam with her left flipper, the right one just hung there limp. I tired to assist and remove the hook but there was no way it was coming out without surgery.

Here's the pics: