None the less,
The philosophy of many scuba clubs is to leave the marine life
untouched. There are good reasons for it.
Its up to us to help where we can, not only in the interests of
conservation, but also to set a precedent. Want to know how long coral
will last if EVERY diver breaks off a piece? and how long will the grouper
last if EVERY diver shoots one through the gills? Are you going to CARE
when the last giant blue grouper gets skewered? Apparaently not.
These comments are on very shaky moral ground: they smack of "everyone
else is doing it, so why can't we?" - hardly a convincing or
even remotely intelligent argument
The next time I feel like being a hypocrite, I can watch you wave your
new, spanky, high-powered rifle at me and hope that you have never have
any little kids in the house who like shiny things that go bang.
You should practice your bowling a little more.
Erik M.
On Thu, 31 Mar 2005, Akins wrote:
My thoughts on the morality of spearfishing while using scuba.
I live in Florida. Most of the divers I know spearfish at least some, but not always or on every dive. Myself and most of my dive friends just do it enough to keep our freezer full.
Have any of you seen the programs on t.v. that occasionally air that show those huge fishing freighters where the whole front end of the freighter opens
up so they can haul their giant fish catch aboard? This ship is big and not only pulls in tons of fish but also catches protected species which are injured and die on the
deck sometimes before they can be thrown back. Dolphins, sea turtles and other protected species are injured and killed all the time. But does the government put
a stop to this? NO!
These type of large fishing vessels are actually a floating fish production factory. Not only do they catch quite literally many, many tons of fish along with protected species, but they actually
process the fish, package and box them up so they are ready for the shelf as soon as the ship docks.
These type of vessels are what is most responsible for the depletion of fish and marine life, NOT the few fish taken by the spearfishing diver who gets a bad reputation because
"OH! you better do something Mr. government! He has a gun! He might hurt somebody with that thing!" Guns have become so demonized in the hands of civilians today that even the spearfisherman falls prey to the
antigun hysteria. But will the government stop those large fishing vessels? Of course not! Why not? Because people like to eat fish in restaurants.
When a person goes hunting in the woods today. They have a wide selection of repeating firearms to hunt with. Even the bowhunter can shoot faster and without distorted vison (and without worrying about sharks) than the spearfisherman can.
The spearfisherman only has the equivalent of a bow and arrow to hunt fish with. Kind of like a ancient American Indian hunting a deer with his bow and arrow (except the Indian can reload faster), plus the spearfisherman is looking thru a
mask that somewhat distorts his view and makes the fish appear to be larger than it actually is which can throw off his aim. He has to deal with the equivalent of a Grizzly bear (sharks) coming along and trying to either take what he has
hunted or actually eat the spearhunter themself! There are no trees to climb to get away from those underwater grizzly bears nor can you run like you can in the woods. You have to hug the bottom and hope the shark goes away or try to make
it to the surface and hope he doesn't follow the bloodtrail of your fish catch. I hate sharks, there are a lot of bull sharks around here. I also have a healthy respect for them.
Yet there are people who say this is not sporting enough! Some regions have
passed laws that do not allow a spearfisherman to wear scuba. So now not only
does he have all the above to deal with, but he has the added risk
of being dragged along underwater and drowned by a large grouper he just
speared because "it isn't sporting to wear scuba!!" How many of you have ever
speared a large fish and been dragged along underwater by it? You damn well
better be good at holding your breath or else you will have to cut your
line. Why don't we make bowhunters in the woods wear a plastic bag over their
head when they hunt so they must hold their breath when they hunt??
Sound ridiculious and silly? Of course it does. Get my point?
Actually I feel the government hampers spearfishermen because they don't
make as much on taxes on spearfishermen. Oh yes we pay for our fishing license
but that is not enough for the government. They get more taxes from the
commercial fishermen for them to fish, they get taxes when the fish are sold,
they get taxes when you buy the fish. They only get taxes ONCE from the
spearfisherman from his fishing license. Also hassleing the spearhunter goes
along with the agenda of disarming the people and taking guns and any weapon
away from them so they will have to rely on the government for protection and
buy their food which makes the government taxes and regulates.
When I am hampered by low visibility, a tank and bcd and other equipment on
my back, watching out for sharks, looking thru a distorted view in my mask,
and only having one shot before I have to retrieve my spear and reload......
I'll be damned if anyone can say that is not sporting! Besides, who says it
has to be sporting? Why does a spearfisherman have to be sporting? Why is it
susposedly immoral to spearfish with scuba but it is not immoral for
the floating factories to catch them by the tons with nets? Why not make
commerical fishermen only able to catch their fish with a hook and line or a
spear? IT'S UNSPORTING TO CATCH THEM WITH NETS! Now isn't that silly?
Would you like to pay the price it would cost you to buy your fish if they
had to catch them that way?
Was it sporting for you to eat your fish last night at your favorite
restaurant that was caught by a floating factory??????? I really am sick of
the hypocracy. I am also a member of the American N.R.A. (National Rifle
Association)
I apologize if I sound cranky and disgusted about this but this hits on my
last nerve and I am tired of the bullsh_t. Of course this is just my
opinion from experience. I think I am entitled to that.
Nuff said.
Kindest Regards,
Bill Akins.
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Cox
To: Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 1:04 PM
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Spearfishing
Alec, Simon, Cliff, and All ( changing thread name)
My main interest in the spearfishing thing is that I would like to
use my sub for a possible fishing purpose. Actually farming fish would be a
more responsible way to get fish. People need to eat and using a sub for that
purpose I think would be a good thing. Afterall many types of fish are
getting depleted from over fishing. But there are those who are also against
farming fish, They point to diseases that are spread when fish farming
operations are set up. I guess those people (PETA) don't want you to utilize
the ocean to feed the hungry in any respect .
Brian
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