For a number of reasons, spearfishing has gotten a bad rap. In the early 70s, the sport was rocked by the anti-spearfishing proclamations of two famous scuba divers. In 1972, biologist Dr. Hans Hass, underwater photographer and author, wrote his Manifesto #1, calling for a legislative ban on the manufacture and use of spearguns. The editor of the influential Skin Diver Magazine and other noted divers quickly joined his ranks.
Two years later, film maker Jacques Cousteau resigned his presidency of the world underwater federation CMAS, stating, "I cannot chair an organization that is mainly supporting spearfishing contests." In 1975, during a day-long visit to the governor and legislature of California, he recommended that the state ban spearfishing. For a while it seemed that the whole diving community, frustrated by the effects of pollution, overfishing and overpopulation, focused on the one issue they felt they could control: spearfishing.
Adding fuel to the flame were tales of rotting fish, speared and forgotten, and legions of European spearfishermen catching huge numbers of reef fish. Beach divers haven't helped the cause, either, dragging their catches through gasping crowds. But the fact is, bluewater hunters are the least productive hunters of the oceans, garnering an extremely limited catch compared to sportfishermen and commercial fishing fleets. And they are acutely aware of the vulnerability of near-shore ecosystems. This chapter details the ways that responsible divers conserve fish and explains how we in the spearfishing community can improve our public relations.
The freediver has a powerful advantage over the fisherman: the ability to accurately select his prey. He may choose to shoot, or not to shoot. This conscious decision, made before every shot, makes spearfishing the most selective form of fish harvesting. The diver has total discretion over the species, size and sometimes even sex of his catch. While responsible game anglers practice "catch and release," responsible spearfishermen practice "release and catch." They "release" all of the fish that swim by, that don't meet their criteria, and they "catch" the specific fish they want.
Fish and game studies in the United States and Australia prove how little spearfishermen take in comparison to other forms of fishing. For example, Dan Miller in his California Department of Fish and Game study, Ocean Sportfishing Catch and Effort, Oregon to Point Arguello, 1965, found that California spearfishermen are the least impactful hunters of the oceans, taking 0.5 percent of the state's sport catch.
This chart was extrapolated from data in the California Department of Fish and Game study, Ocean Sportfishing Catch and Effort, Oregon to Point Arguello, 1965 contained in Fish Bulletin Number 130; from the Department's annual commercial landings bulletin; and from data received from the Marine Recreational Fisheries Survey (1984 - 1989)
The comparison of sport catch to the vast numbers of fish taken by commercial fishermen is astounding. During the period 1984 through 1989, according to the Marine Recreational Fisheries Survey and the California Department of Fish and Game annual commercial landings bulletins, commercial fishermen averaged landings of 442 million pounds of fish compared to sportfishermen who landed just 29.8 million pounds, or 6.7 percent. Viewed another way, for every 3,000 fish taken from California waters, commercial fishermen account for 2,769, sportfishermen 201 and skin-divers 9.
Spearfishing is the most fuel-efficient method of harvesting. When compared to anglers and commercial fishermen, it produces less pollution (because of the decreased dependence on trolling boats) and the so-called bycatch is eliminated. Bycatch is all of the unwanted or undersized fish that are caught and killed along with the intended fish in other forms of fishing, such as gill netting. This bycatch is often simply shoveled back overboard, dead. For example, the shrimping industry discards 10 pounds of by-catch for every one pound of shrimp.
As they improve their skills, most divers establish more restrictive personal minimums of size and quantity. With experience and success, they tend to hunt larger but fewer fish. Many dive trips yield few or no fish because those available did not meet the diver's new criteria. This same diver will continuously refine his equipment, through countless hours of rigging and rerigging, in an effort to create the gun best suited for his quarry. His goal is to minimize, or eliminate, the loss of speared fish. His speargun is powered only by muscle, and powerheads are reserved for defense. The diver will study textbooks and magazines and talk to others to make sure that his skills, knowledge and equipment are the best available.
I believe that man's interaction with his fellow man and all living creatures requires a fine balance. This balance is in constant flux. Man is neither the overlord of nature nor its servant. We are part of the whole. No man should be responsible for, or allow, the extinction of a species. Everyone agrees that endangered species should be protected. The question is, how do we maintain a balance for non-endangered species?
Fish populations left alone will reach an equilibrium with their environment. The population will expand to the limits of the available space and food supply. There is a fisheries- management concept called the maximum sustainable yield which allows for the pruning of a fish population, while still leaving enough breeding members to restore the population to sustainable levels. In most cases, this maximum yield, with judicious pruning, will result in the maximum productivity of a stock in terms of catch. Predators and man can eliminate unhealthy fish, freeing up natural resources for those remaining, helping the strong to survive and protecting a healthy gene pool for future generations.
Maintaining fish populations at the maximum sustainable yield is the ideal. Unfortunately, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service, we are facing a serious decline in almost all commercially important species. This decline is the result of overfishing, degradation of the environment, pollution, overpopulation and other variables. Continued overfishing of a species can reduce populations to the point where collapse of the species is inevitable.
Today, we find ourselves fishing species below the maximum sustainable yield but above the collapse level. I believe there is a place for the hunter in our time, but we must be constantly mindful that our efforts do not leave any fish population near the critical level, and we must make every effort to bring all populations up to their maximum sustainable yield. We must also be active in the legislation of commercial fisheries because they represent the greatest potential threat for overfishing.
Divers should support fish science. Marine reserves, providing reservoirs for breeding populations and opportunities for fish research, need to be established and nurtured. Science will reveal the mysteries of the ocean's fishes and guide us in our selection of the appropriate species for hunting. Scientists found that my 400-pound bluefin tuna was only 11 years old, while a 430-pound, slow-growing California giant black seabass, was 75 years old. Obviously tuna, with their rapid growth, can replace large adults in their population in one-seventh the time it takes black seabass populations to replace a similarly sized fish. Because tuna grow so quickly, bluewater hunters should consider targeting tuna in greater numbers than black seabass.
We must be active in all phases of fisheries management. California divers supported a moratorium on the take of the giant black seabass, which were close to being wiped out. Today divers do not target them, and sportfishermen puncture the air bladders of any black seabass they catch, releasing them unharmed. Black seabass populations would make a quicker come back were it not for a loophole in the commercial fishing laws, which allow for an "incidental catch," permitting the landing of one black seabass per boat. This encourages the unethical practice of culling. It is possible for a net boat to capture many black seabass, on multiple net sets, and each time discard little fish for bigger ones. Wouldn't it make sense to entirely outlaw the commercial catch to conform with the sport-take of black seabass? In New South Wales, Australia, similar species such as the giant grouper, black cod and estuary cod, are protected from all forms of fishing.
The California ban on near-shore gill netting will help restore the balance of many species that frequent the coastal region. White seabass, yellowtail, black seabass and halibut are a few of the beneficiaries of this law. California sportsmen, in conjunction with the state's utilities and research centers, are now taking a proactive approach. They have established breeding and grow-out facilities for both white seabass and halibut.
Bluewater divers in the northeastern United States helped to develop local laws with respect to striped bass. Some, like Mike Laptew (see the chapter on striped bass), use their bluewater skills to photograph and video striped bass, making this fish's behavior available to the surface fisherman and the naturalist. Florida divers have taken an active lead in preserving the corals and designating certain areas as fish sanctuaries.
Bluewater divers must be careful to develop a good relationship with the inhabitants of the countries they visit. The Mexican waters off Cabo San Lucas, at the tip of Baja California, are prime bluewater fishing grounds, coveted by local fishermen and tourists alike. Some spearfishermen from the United States have caused the local Mexican fishermen problems, barging into their best locations, their floats and lines scattered everywhere, and making it difficult for the locals to fish. Some have sold their fish to the local markets, creating ill will among the local fishermen, who rely on the ocean for a living.
Brothers Ian and Peter McGonagle, having worked both on sportfishing boats and construction sites in the area, are known by the local fishermen better than most "gringos." Avid bluewater hunters themselves (see the chapters on dolphin fish and marlin), they have worked out a successful strategy with the local fishermen. First, they never shoot more fish than they can use themselves. Second, they avoid the popular fishing grounds during early morning and midday, when the Mexicans are fishing. Instead, they limit their diving to the evening hours, after 3 p.m. When they dive earlier, they find remote locations or drift in the bait, away from other fishermen. Third, they stay in constant dialogue with the locals, helping them to understand how few fish they take and how selective they are. More divers with attitudes like this will help assure a friendly reception in any foreign country.
Australian bluewater hunters Rob Torelli and Adam Smith, writing in a personal communication, report the current conservation ethic in Australia. Rob is a national competitor and editor of Freediving and Spearfishing News and Adam, a keen spearfisherman and marine biologist, works for the government as a fisheries manager. "In the early days a spearfisherman's catch was dominated by large cod and grouper, but now some species are protected and we observe these fish, preferring instead to hunt pelagics," they say. "Even with pelagics, we generally select the good eating fish such as mackerel, and allow barracuda and trevally to swim past."
They add that many of the current Australian conservation laws were prompted by divers, who through their familiarity with local reef fish and habitats were the first to acknowledge adverse trends in fish populations and bring the problem to the attention of legislators. Australians adhere to laws and rules that they hope will help sustain their resources. Most localities limit spearfishing to the breath-holding diver. Many species are now protected, and spearfishing contest rules allow for just one fish per species, and edible fish only. Current fisheries management practices are aimed at resource sharing, conservation and the control of black marketing.
According to Rob and Adam, Australian fisheries biologists have embraced a new concept that they feel is more appropriate than the maximum sustainable yield idea. They prefer the broader approach of ecologically sustainable development, viewing fish populations not as individuals, but as parts of a greater whole. Management of spearfishermen in Australia may involve gear and area restrictions (marine parks and closed zones). Spearfishermen are limited by maximum and minimum size limits, bag limits and protected species.
Rob and Adam are proud of their country's spearfishermen ("spearos") and defend spearfishing by stating, "We are very restricted by rules and regulations and the physical limitations of our breath-holding ability. We catch relatively few fish compared to anglers and commercial fishers, and most spearfishing pressure is limited to metropolitan areas. We feel this method of hunting is the most environmentally acceptable because it is selective and does not indiscriminately kill nontargeted species."
Some bluewater hunters conserve current fish by reviewing past hunts and documenting their catch in diaries or on film. These records remind them of their successful hunts, and they often find enough satisfaction in them that they limit their efforts to larger fish of that species, or turn their efforts to different species.
Members of the Bottom Scratchers, the California fathers of spearfishing, have developed a method for making the most of their hunts: they record each catch. Jack Prodonovich, one of California's spearfishing legends, carefully chronicled each dive in a small red diary; he reads the cryptic notes up close with one eye_the other eye was blinded when a powerhead-equipped spear bounced back from a swimming pool wall. These notes conjure up images of the hunt, and in effect, enable him to relive it. Jack maintains a picture book diary with frequent contributions from divers all over the Pacific coast.
The Bottom Scratchers made their own personal progression to ever higher standards. These men_six of the original 15 are 80 years old now_remain keepers of the flame. While they lament the passing of the times when legions of 100-pound black seabass swam nose-to-tail through kelp-shrouded canopies, and a 10-minute swim offshore could yield a 30-pound white seabass, they do revel in our expansion into the deep blue. They encourage others to continue where they left off.
Many spearfishing contests preserve fish. The explanation to this apparent paradox lies in the numbers of fish taken per hour of effort. A good example is the Long Beach Neptunes' annual Catalina Bluewater Meet, where divers are allowed to enter one fish from a selected list of bluewater species. Hunting is limited to one day, from dawn until noon. Trophies are awarded for the six largest fish. A typical meet yields 20 fish taken by 130 divers. Most contestants make at least one scouting dive trip to the island during the weeks immediately preceding the contest. They generally avoid shooting fish, preferring instead to leave them for the contest. Adding the scouting time of about four hours to the contest time of six hours yields 10 hours, which works out to 0.015 fish per hour of effort. My survey of sportsfishing boats working the same area finds that the average catch rate is one fish per hour, or 66 times the rate of the spearfishing contestants. This figure would be astronomical if I compared the commercial fishing take-per-hour of effort.
The 1994 U.S. National Spearfishing Championship, held a few miles north of Malibu, California, produced similar figures. Many divers spent weeks, and some months, scouting the contest area. The size and number of eligible fish were strictly controlled. A conservative average of the total hours of individual effort, including the six-hour meet, is 50 hours. The average contestant took 12 fish in those 50 hours of effort, yielding a catch rate of 0.24 fish per hour of effort. This means that the nation's best divers managed a catch rate of one-fourth the average line fisherman's rate.
A biological survey of the meet area, conducted by the San Diego Marine Sciences Group, a division of Ogden Environmental and Energy Services, showed little impact on the fish populations. Trained observers, both scuba and freedivers, surveyed the contest area. Comparison of the precontest fish populations with postcontest populations revealed very few differences.
An important point to consider about the spearfishing contests mentioned above, is their strict limitation on the number of fish per species allowed under the contest rules; unlimited numbers of fish can result in over exploitation. Recognizing this, Australians limit their contestants to just one fish per species.
Seventy-five divers, participating in the successful first Australian Bluewater Classic, shot 126 fish in the two-day, 14 hour event. The rate of fish taken on the contest days was 0.12 fish per hour; the number is much lower when one considers the divers' scouting time prior to the meet.
Society also needs to balance the philosophy of individuals who, on the one extreme, would preserve every fish in the oceans, and on the other extreme, would hunt fish to extinction. In the middle is the responsible hunter, who through sound conservation practices, guarantees future fish stocks. Remember, we are a minority, unorganized, with little financial or political power. Our public actions define us. Evaluate the way you act. Be an ambassador. Take time to educate others who are uninformed or misinformed about our sport.
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Mark Peaslee, mpeaslee@best.com
Copyright © 1997 Terry Maas, BlueWater Freedivers