In Reply to: Re: What the hell does poaching have to do with legal fishing/diving? posted by finfan on September 20, 2005 at 10:45:26:

You are off the mark. Some of my best friends are hunters and spearo's (a spearo is a spear fisher, a photog is a photographer).. In Southern California you learn to co exist with divers who have special interests, or you dive elsewhere. The Sea Divers are an excellent example of a group of photogs, hunters, and recreational divers who coexist in the same dive club and on their dive trips. The Sea Divers are an advanced dive club with some excellent law abiding underwater fishers and environmentally respectful underwater photogs.

There is always a rare exception, but generally you won't see this group a) breaking the law, b) leaving their catch behind - they eat what they take - it isn't senseless recreational killing (which seems to be a very wasteful legal activity) and c) indiscriminately killing stuff that they don't know what it is and then asking "can you eat it"?

The Fish and Game laws in California aren't perfect. Species that haven't been hunters prey due to lack of dietary demand are now being sought after as delicacies, medicinals, etc. I would like to see much more Fish and Game attention given to these species with some proactive legislation going to account for new consumer demands - as one example, my personal beef, the sea cucumber.

When visiting places such as Cocos and Galapagos where marine life is as protected as is humanly possible, and then look at everything else, it gives a whole new perspective to the concept of marine life management. With insightful and forward thinking Fish and Game management/regulations, cooperation from all special interest groups, divers, fishers, "the commercial guys", and yes dive boat captains California could set an example for the world. We aren't there, but maybe I see the stirrings of better things to come in the future.

My two cents worth