Fishing on dive boats...

sportfishing and spearfishing have pretty low, even non-existent, by-catch rates. To me, seeing the guy fishing off the back of the boat is better than serving fish on the boat that was caught with a long line, gillnet, drift net, bottom trawl, etc. The fishing that goes on where you can't see it is often a lot worse than the fishing you can see.

I can imagine a vegan asking a similar question, and being disgusted that divers are eating fish at all.

I'm not a vegan. I still eat everything, and even fish.

Anybody see the images from Brian Skerry in a recent National Geographic? check out the shrimp bycatch photos in particular, the first and the last:

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/070...1/gallery4.html

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/070...1/gallery5.html

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/070...1/gallery9.html

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/070.../gallery13.html

sportfishing and spearfishing have pretty low, even non-existent, by-catch rates. To me, seeing the guy fishing off the back of the boat is better than serving fish on the boat that was caught with a long line, gillnet, drift net, bottom trawl, etc. The fishing that goes on where you can't see it is often a lot worse than the fishing you can see.

I would't be so sure about non-existent impact of sportfishing, check this:

"In the Gulf of Mexico, recreational catches of overfished species in 2002 made up 64 percent of landings. Sport fishing also resulted in 38 percent of the catches of these species in the South Atlantic, 59 percent along the Pacific coast and 12 percent in the Northeast."

You can read the full article here: http://www.fsu.com/pages/2004/08/27/overfishing.html

Also, when you say that you prefer to see the guy fishing onboard than having a fish that was bought in a market, remember that the fresh fish caught onboard is in addition to those that are in the market, and not a replacement.

Don't take me wrong, I am in favor of fresh fish for sushi and a nice dinner too, just not the reef fish that we see while diving. Nothing against trawling for wahoo and tuna in between dives.

Eeew - big contentious debate. What makes tuna ok to trawl for 'in between dives'? I for one have stopped eating a toasted tuna and egg roll with my regular morning latte on the basis of understanding more about tuna depletion. I've also been eating and loving prawns since for ever, but now will have to give them up too morally on the basis of the by-catch wastage.

I'm an ex-spearo with lots of kills, and only ever hunted for food, but now the rules have changed, and as divers and photographers we cannot continue to support the fishing of endangered species, or species whose very capture cause massive wastage and depletion.

Sure the picture would be different if every shark captured was eaten in whole, but the amazingly successful marketing of the albeit moronic raison-d'etre of shark-fin soup put paid to that, and we cannot live by even the seemingly acceptable practices of the recent past. I also loved 'rock cod' or shark/dog-fish and chips in the UK years ago; unfortunately this is a relatively new and accelerating crisis where we must all make painful decisions ....

NickJ,

thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you :) your posting should become the wetpixel code of conduct.

ok now who wants to start a debate on what makes the best conservation subject, pretty pictures or ones that show environmental/species damage?

m

NicK, you are spot on. What was "sustainable" yesterday is no longer so. The rules have changed and we must change accordingly. Just like we point to the Chinese and say give up shark fin soup b/c sharks are almost gone, we must change our dietary habits to recognize that other species are on the brink.

-shawn

There is no word for 'Shark' in the Chinese language. They call Shark Fin Soup, 'Fish Fin Soup'! To the average Chinese they are eating fish fin, any fish fin and they probably wouldn't know which end of a shark is the toothy end even if you were to point it out. Thats what you're up against.

Talk about uphill!!

Mark.

Mark,

That is true. Sadly this is industry fueled demand where the traders who know everything about sharks, are compelling consumers to buy shark fin soup. This is not dissimilar to the DeBeers camapain to convince every woman she needs a daimond to be important.

Shawn

So when all the sharks are gone they will switch to Grouper and carry on as normal leaving us all to wonder why they couldn't have targeted a species that would be able to be farmed for this specific need in the first place!! Fish is fish, right?

The mind boggles.

Mark.

Well...eh...sharks are perceived as "free" for the taking, largely unprotected, "were" incredibly prolific, and hey, the Emperor of China had a fancy for their fins in soup.

When the sharks are gone, these guys don't care. They have made so, so much money in the past 30 years, a little bears claw here, tiger bone there and rhino horn on occasion will provide adequate substitute to fund their lavish lifestyles.