Spearfishing ethics

Killing fish among fellow mexican spearos is as controversial as washing your hands before a meal. The rule of thumb is eat what you catch. Nobody around here kills for the prize, that´s why spearfishing pics among locals are almost non existent. You shoot an ornamental or little fish and you will be stigmatized for the rest of your living days. Most spearos i know shoot fish to bring top quality protein to their loved ones. I feel bringing home, steroids and hormon free meat for my family is a moral duty. That´s why i am not spare about equipment, cause it pay for itself.

We eat everything, is hard to find an non edible fish, even the red meat jacks have theri place in mexican cuisine. We don´t shoot ornamentals though.

resurrect this thread to add something:

per Dan's first post, I feel each and every spearo has a duty to teach and to guide those who are less experienced and to represent our sport well.

this is a difficult sport to master and it is even difficult to get into without proper guidance. I remember being so in awe the first time I dove down with my polespear. I looked at the bountiful reef and felt totally paralyzed. I just didn't know what to do and I didn't want to hurt any fish that Iwasn't going to take or hurt myself. This has always been with me whenever i meet a newb or have someone come and ask me a question. I wish there would have been more folks around when I was a total greenhorn

the second thing relates to how stigmatized this sport is. people, even other fishermen, are very negative about spearos and often have gross misconceptions about our methods and practices. this is why I always espouse to be a leader and a model of good citizenry and contientious(sp) taking.
we are all ambassadors for this sport and in any encounter we might be someone's first encounter with a spearo, make it a positive encounter and we get more supporters, act like a dick and thre is another person voting to ban spearing

Dan for some is important and for others not and thats a shame, we should take care of what we have to protect the future of the fishing system, like Lunker Buster said some fishermen, biologist and other people dont like what we do, they dont think we are selective at the time of killing our prey, but thats the image that the ones that dont care have gave us.

I am 44 years old and I have being spearing since I was 14, I have cought my share of fish in that time with no ilegal fish, under size or just shoot for practicing my aim, all fish are for me, family and friends, nothing goes to waste, like you Dan, the best ceviche is from scraping meat from the bones of big fish, all heads go to the fridge and when I have enough I make a nice caldo de pescao with some mofongo, the guys that go out with me I try to teach them the same, lucky me all of them have been good students, one thing I tell them is not to kill to try to be someone big and have a name or be a star around here, just keep safe, keep legal, enjoy the day and the good Karma will be gratefull to you, people will admire you more for that.

Pucho

I couldn't have put it any better. Thanks Pucho!:thumbsup2:

Spearfishing is regarded as an evil sport for two main reasons:

.- Generally speaking people can cope with small fish (or fishes) dying massively of asphixia, but they see as a diabolic, sadistic practice feeding some steel to a big fish.

.- Most anglers and the general public as well are jealous of the proficency and sucess rate of a spearfisherman. In my bad days i get better fish (considered small accordying to my standards) than most anglers on their best days.

Just for starters

a 4 kilo (10 pounds) fish is small by the way

It would be great if this was more than just ethical. Many spearos out there work for a living just like anyone else, and although many still respect the take and size reg.'s many(especially other countries) clean up a reef in minutes.
Even when this is the case though, our by-catch is minimal if not zero and our harm of the underwater environment is even less. When you drop a net, everything comes with it, and everything in its way gets trampled upon. Every time I see one of those Gigantic commercial netting boats bring their catch on board, I cringe.
Even with lobstering I am disgusted at times. The traps are much more humane but the practices by some of these guys are ridiculous. How many reefs do you think have been killed due to dropping a ridiculous amount of Bleach on it to get the lobsters out?
I wish we, and I mean all that take from the ocean, weren't looked upon as a whole. But, this is the reality. If your part of the group, you must be involved in the same or similar practices.

I derailed your thread huh? Didn't mean to take your thunder.

Here's my take and don't take this as me being on a soap box or anything. But I realize that this is a spearfishing website, thus the title of this thread. The way I see it is that "ethics" should not be limited to just harvesting fish and should apply to all of our actions in everyday life. Usually a person who is unethical in something tends to be unethical in others and usually does not live his life by a strict moral compass. These are the ones I don't care to dive with, much less associate myself with. Sure we are human and are all subject to indiscretions from time to time, but when it becomes consistent behavior and part of the norm, then it is a problem in spearfishing as in life.

Rolo,
good point, but that is exactly it. Where is the moral/ethical standard to be used? Because it's illegal does it make it immoral? Are we able to separate the two? When fishing is looked upon as a general term which includes all types, what makes one more ethical/legal than the other?

When you have the opportunity (and I consider it that) to explain your actions to someone who doesn't know or understand what it is that we like to do what we do, remember that MOST people make absolutely no distinction between freedive and scuba spearfishing. Ask yourself first, if you might view spearfishing (and spearfishermen) differently from that perspective.

In fairness, I'm a complete newcomer to freedive spearfishing. So maybe It's just my enthusiasm that seems to carry the conversation. But most people that I have talked to equate freedive spearfishing with high altitude mountain climbing, or some other extreme physical challenge that they themselves would never have the mental toughness to pursue. I love to relate of watching two freedivers, both older than me, who were on a level that I could only hope to get too.

Part of it may be living in Louisiana. Here, hunting and fishing as a means to get dinner are traditions that are almost above question. We don't have "Sea Kittens" here. In the same way that people see bow hunting as a more challenging way to hunt on land, they simply see spearfishing, and even more freedive spearfishing, as a more challenging way to fish.