Anti-spearos, why? NHZ please.

[CaptnJack]

Spearfishing on scuba is illegal in the Bahamas as well as MX, free diving only. The locals are given different rules however.

[Dusty2]

As I have aged my blood lust has pretty much faded. Not to say that a nice fat ling or nice healthy buck doesn't still raise my instincts.

I have no problem with responsible hunting and fishing as long as they are done within the laws which are there to insure that the prey is sustained. I have no problem with a guy taking a cod a day within the legal slot. I feel there are very few who actually do this anyway so there is little impact. Far less than the fishermen standing shoulder to shoulder along the Puyallup or any other salmon streams here abouts or the beach at every access point in the sound. Or the Indians stringing there nets clear across every productive inlet they can find. Yes you can pick out the fish you want. Fair? I see allot more empty stringers than full ones so yes I think its fair. Not any less so than the dear hunters or elk hunters are. They to put themselves in the animals environment and pic the one they want.

I am not into such things anymore but to object to them would be very hypocritical on my part. Do I want them doing it anywhere near me? Hell NO! but I don't condemn them for their choice to do so as long as they do it respectfully. I was raised on a small family farm and have watched many animals meet their demise in route to my table and dispatched a few myself so there is no mystery there. The hunting instinct is as much a part of us as the instinct to reproduce. To say it is not is foolish. To make the choice to not indulge it is admirable but doesn't mean we have progressed so far that it is no longer a part of our genes.

[whatevah]

I spearfished in Australia a bit, it's good because you can select exactly the fish you intend to catch, eliminating bicatch. However, that was all done while freediving, which I think is way more legit than spearing on scuba. It's a hell of a lot harder, and more of a sport. Who would honestly say it's sporting to swim up to a ling cod on scuba, but the spear to the fishes side and pull the trigger?

Freediving here is a lot more demanding than in warmer waters. Lots of neoprene and lead, current, and cold are all working against you. In addition, visibility is generally not that grand - snorkeling around on the surface looking for fish to spear is not a technique that meets with much success here. Spearing without SCUBA is an option, and I do enjoy it from time to time. But when you look at the small proportion that spearing (no bycatch) has in the overall fishery (lots of angling bycatch - high rates of rockfish mortality) there is no justification for limiting it to freediving. The primary season here (Lingcod) is so short that most are lucky if they get out to spear a few times each year.

BTW - I hear a lot of divers commenting on the ease with which they presume a Lingcod can be taken. Many divers new to spearing Lingcod struggle to get it right. Depending on the conditions and the fish, it can be quite challenging. Part of the sport is finding the right location and arranging for a dive that will challenge and reward - when you have a very short season to work with and you want to consistently bring home a fish each time you dive, it's not so simple. Sometimes I think that people who dive at popular/protected sites like Keystone, Edmonds etc think the Lingcod they're petting behave the same as those at other sites. That is not the case - I can assure you that most of them are not a "gimme".

I hope you do try some spear fishing in this area - I think you'll have a great time!

[ArcticDiver]

As I have aged my blood lust has pretty much faded. Not to say that a nice fat ling or nice healthy buck doesn't still raise my instincts.

I have no problem with responsible hunting and fishing as long as they are done within the laws which are there to insure that the prey is sustained. I have no problem with a guy taking a cod a day within the legal slot. I feel there are very few who actually do this anyway so there is little impact. Far less than the fishermen standing shoulder to shoulder along the Puyallup or any other salmon streams here abouts or the beach at every access point in the sound. Or the Indians stringing there nets clear across every productive inlet they can find. Yes you can pick out the fish you want. Fair? I see allot more empty stringers than full ones so yes I think its fair. Not any less so than the dear hunters or elk hunters are. They to put themselves in the animals environment and pic the one they want.

I am not into such things anymore but to object to them would be very hypocritical on my part. Do I want them doing it anywhere near me? Hell NO! but I don't condemn them for their choice to do so as long as they do it respectfully. I was raised on a small family farm and have watched many animals meet their demise in route to my table and dispatched a few myself so there is no mystery there. The hunting instinct is as much a part of us as the instinct to reproduce. To say it is not is foolish. To make the choice to not indulge it is admirable but doesn't mean we have progressed so far that it is no longer a part of our genes.

[BillyD]

I spearfished in Australia However, that was all done while freediving, which I think is way more legit than spearing on scuba. It's a hell of a lot harder, and more of a sport. Who would honestly say it's sporting to swim up to a ling cod on scuba, but the spear to the fishes side and pull the trigger?

and will probably try spearing in the Northwest eventually.

Does that mean you will be freediving while spearing in the Northwest?

I have done a bit of snorkeling/freediving in the San Juans at Smallpox Bay, but never with a spear gun. Does anyone here freedive in or around the Sound?
I'm up for trying spearfishing on scuba as well. As you all have pointed out, the season is so short and tight, and so few people are doing it, that it's got to be insignificant.
Also, I am a big fan of catching and eating my own food. So when the season comes up next year, I will finally get that dusty spear gun down off the wall.

[pensacoladiver]

I spearfished in Australia However, that was all done while freediving, which I think is way more legit than spearing on scuba. It's a hell of a lot harder, and more of a sport. Who would honestly say it's sporting to swim up to a ling cod on scuba, but the spear to the fishes side and pull the trigger?

and will probably try spearing in the Northwest eventually.

Does that mean you will be freediving while spearing in the Northwest?

I have done a bit of snorkeling/freediving in the San Juans at Smallpox Bay, but never with a spear gun. Does anyone here freedive in or around the Sound?
I'm up for trying spearfishing on scuba as well. As you all have pointed out, the season is so short and tight, and so few people are doing it, that it's got to be insignificant.
Also, I am a big fan of catching and eating my own food. So when the season comes up next year, I will finally get that dusty spear gun down off the wall.

I guess I am really confused now.

Is spearing on scuba legit, not legit, less legit than freediving???

Is spearing on scuba easier than freediving? Have you ever spearfished on scuba to be able to compare the two?

[Beefcake]

I think this is a great discussion, and I would like to chime in on a few points. First, I don't know anything about the life history of GPO, but the 100#+ salmon were killed off by dams, not fishermen (Google "June Hogs Grand Coulee Dam" for history). Second, while rockfish stocks in parts of the Puget Sound have declined significantly, it is completely incorrect to state that this is the case along the entire west coast. According to ODFW, the Oregon coast only has two threatened species of rockfish (Canary and Yeloweye), and they are both rebounding faster than predicted due to tighter commercial regulations and an MPA which was implemented with the support of the sportfishing community (Stonewall Banks MPA aka "The Rockpile"). In fact, there is anectdotal evidence that Yelloweye are no longer threatened here, but there isn't a good way to study the biomass since they are in deep water and since bycatch has been limited by fishing regulations (old stats were based on trawl / dragger bycatch, but new gear restrictions have limited this bycatch to the point that similar statistics are no longer available); I could go on about this subject, but these fish are found in depths outside of recreational scuba limits. Also, lingcod in Oregon were deemed overfished, but their biomass has more than doubled in the past decade due to proper resource management.

I apologize in advance if this seems off topic, but general statements that all fish are becoming extinct along the entire west coast have had political ramifications that are unfair to the small communities in Oregon and Northern Cal that depend on these well-managed resources for their livelihoods. I know that the majority of this board is related to the Puget Sound area, but the above clarifications are important so that people don't assume that your problems are coast-wide. For instance, I believe that the Marine Reserves in Puget Sound have been somewhat successful and were scientifically justified, but the same should not be pushed on Oregon's coast since proper management is fixing the problem and since it is not scientifically justified. Those few of us that dive are in a position to make our own observations (and I appreciated and respect the observations of those that have posted) rather than accepting the sky-is-falling claims from the feel-good activists that don't have a dog in this fight or scientific basis for their assertions.

With all of that said, I guess I owe some clarification of my background. I am an avid sportfisherman and also own a commercial albacore boat. I agree wholeheartedly with the people above that have stated that most hunters and fishermen have more respect for the animals we eat than the other 95% of people that believe that meat magically appears in the supermarket. I also like to know where my food comes from, and I'd rather feed my family responsibly harvested wild food than farmed fish or meat pumped full of steroids and antibiotics to ward off the evil diseases caused by the horrible conditions in which the animals are raised. I hunt & fish using legal and ethical methods, and I'm proud to have taught my stepsons to do the same. I have full respect for those that choose to be completely vegan, but anything in between is pathetic and I laugh at the opinions of those that wear leather shoes and belts then tell me that hunting and fishing are inhumane.

By the way, I am also a novice spearo. Oregon allows spearfishing in saltwater, and it creates a fun task-loading challenge in our murky water. For enjoyable diving, the Puget Sound area is much better, but I suffer the 2-5' visibility here in Oregon in exchange for the opportunity at a good post-dive meal. I primarily use a pole-spear and target blue / black rockfish and greenling. I have only taken my speargun out once due to an ethical dilema... the easiest time to get lings nearshore here is during their spring spawn, but I am unwilling to shoot a spawning female or a male guarding the nest. A few hang around the jetties year-round, but rockfish and greenling are more abundant and allow me to use the polespear (easier at my level of diving experience).

After reading the Washington fishing regulations, I feel sorry for the spearos up there. It is sad that the fisheries there are managed in an anti-spearfishing manner that doesn't appear to be based on management needs (anglers have longer seasons and larger bag limits, so it isn't due to overfishing or scientific goals).

[whatevah]

After reading the Washington fishing regulations, I feel sorry for the spearos up there. It is sad that the fisheries there are managed in an anti-spearfishing manner that doesn't appear to be based on management needs (anglers have longer seasons and larger bag limits, so it isn't due to overfishing or scientific goals).

Thanks for your support. You made a number of good points, of which the lack of good data resonates most for me. We have a serious problem here in Washington with fisheries being managed on the basis of supposition - there's not enough science, changes are never made with a plan to monitor the true effects, and there is a lot of political wrangling involved.

Good luck with your business and your continuing experience with diving and spearfishing.