In Reply to: Re: Good news for a change re: gillnet posted by Ross-O on December 31, 2007 at 11:14:30:

You guys have done an admirable job of putting together a pictorial synopsis that paints a disturbing picture. I think you've also done a great job of highlighting an issue and seeing that properly trained people take over from here.

I found your comments above interesting on many levels. Naturally, as you may assume, I'm disappointed to see that you put yourself in the position of being solo and trapped inside a gillnet at 95' (Elaine as well). It all worked out for you this time, and I hope you take more away from this experience then solo diving while near gillnets is a dangerous idea. I note that based upon your experience in the instant case that you chose to expressly point out the correlation between doing something you deem dangerous and the likely possibility of death. The irony, for me, is poetic. But as I've said on numerous occassions, I think you are a real nice guy and I'd hate to see anything happen to you as a result of being "risk tolerant". Things go wrong too quickly underwater, and you got lucky on this one so I hope in the future you are less tolerant of risk. I wonder what the reaction of your pictorial essay would be if rather then witnessing dead sea lions they were replaced with dead divers as a result of doing things that could have easily been mitigated. Lord knows we've tried to document, and analyze, the all-too numerous tragedies we've witnessed locally. The senseless arguments many of us had over the years would be even more ridiculous to the extent the same correlation between irresponsibility and fatalities could be quantified in a manner that you were able to chronical.

Anyway, nice job in getting this information out in the public and I hope your efforts help get this issue resolved, and I'm glad your still around to write about your eforts. Lastly, there's an old expression regarding recovery efforts that goes "don't become a victim as well".

Later