It's come to my attention that they're looking to ban a huge area south of Miami to spearfishing. I don't know all the details but that's not exactly what this thread is about. Someone who's familiar with the situation should start a thread to rally up the guys to go to the meeting and protest the closure. I was talking to the person who gave me the news, and considering the points that can be brought up in the meeting to fight agaist it. A major point is why should spearfishing be targeted; if there's going to be a closure it should be on the basis of making the area a sanctuary to protect specific species, and thus should affect all recreational fishing which spearfishing falls under. We can say this because we know they'll never close the area to hook and line fishing. I blurted without thinking "if anything they should ban scuba spearfishing". My friend said I shouldn't talk like that, not because he's a fan or supporter of scuba spearfishing, he's a dedicated freediver, but because there are a lot more of them and they fight against the constant attacks on spearfishing. I agreed for the moment because I've seen scuba spearfishermen be active in fighting against anti-spearfishing regulations. So I reason that I must be tolerant, emphasize tolerant because I really don't care for shooting fish on the hose, of scuba spearfishermen for the good of us all.
Well today it occurred to me that whatever negative public opinion there is of spearfishing, it's most likely because of the very same scuba spearfishing in the first place. Freediving spearos are a very small group, and are barely visible. So whatever trouble we're always finding ourselves in is because of the scuba spearfishers who are in the public eye. The sight of a geared up scuba diver with a short range biller or JBL has always been disturbing to me. I can only assume that this is the first impression of spearishing most people get. The way I see it scuba spearfishers will keep fighting regulations for their own interest anyways, so I don't need to team up with them or pretend I support them. I wish for the day when the general public understands the difference between us and them. Freediving in itself imposes limitations which allow fish to be safe from a speardiver.
Someone told me that in the days of Art Pinder spearfishing was known as a freediving activity. Since then scuba divers have become synonymous with spearfishing. I want to take spearfishing back. We should have our own flag too. Maybe something like this, a combination of the US dive flag with the international dive flag.
