Posted by So Cal Divin on November 23, 2004 at 23:40:09:
In Reply to: mature male sheepshead posted by tommy7 on November 23, 2004 at 13:33:40:
Hi all
I'd like to clear up a few details Tommy misrepresnted in his post. I think it is only right for you to hear the other side of the story from somone who was there and wasn't taking part in the Tournament. Me.
First point: The feediving/spearfishing Tournament was organized by the GLACD (Greater Los Angeles Area Council of Divers) and ran by a world renown freediving/spearfishing legend, Rene Rojas.
Two: The DF&G sets limits on size and species that are allowed to be taken in a given year.
Tournament rules were set 2" longer than DF&G legal size reqiurements and only legal fish were allowed to be taken.
3: A total of 26 fish were taken between 12 freedivers/spearfishermen. 5 of those being adult male sheepshead. And not one fish ended up in the trash. They fed those that hunted them their friends, family and families in a low income apt. complex in Long Beach.
4: As far as the spearfishermen being immoral and bragging about their kills is a half truth. All fish taken were done in a legal and moral manner.
As far as bragging about making a kill it's true and an instinctive reaction that is as deeply rooted in mankind as far back as the caveman. If this is immoral, that's your opinion and your allowed to it.
I would like to pose a question to the masses and a question to Tommy that he failed to answer in my post on www.spearboard.com
The masses: Do you really think the participants at Sat. Tournament would wipe out or even damage a fish population all for male pride ?
Kinda counterproductive in my view to pound your chest about wiping out a fish population that you'll never be able to hunt again.
Spearfishermen in general are more worried about the commercial/sport (cattle boats of fishermen)fishing industry than the less than 1% of fish they take in a year.
Tommy stated "Ok Ok Ok,
one more post for clarification,
My Opinion is that mature sheepshead are easy to kill and take way too long (30-50 years) to get that big."
If male sheepshead are so easy to hunt, then how do they live to be 30-50 years old ?
I hope this helps clarify the other side of the equation and will help you decide wether the spearfishermen your bashing really desrve your critcism . Because in reality they're a bunch of great guys following their passion to freedive and hunt. And being a newbie to the sport of spearfishing I hope to be able to learn how to successfully hunt while freediving from them in the future.
As an aside I'm an avid SCUBA Diver with 2 beautiful boys. I plan to share my passion of diving free/SCUBA and spearfishing with them. All the while taking pics/video with my u/w dig. camera so they can pass it on to their kids.
I apologize if this post has been long winded but there are few things that I'm this passionate about, so I thank you for your time.
Jeff Gray