Banning Certain Fishing Gear Can Help Save Reefs From Climate Change

somewhat ought to send Dr.Cinner a letter,, how can you put spearguns in the same category as sein nets and traps? ridiculous
it says the research was done around kenya and papua new guinea,,

:bs1:

what an asshat....

it doesn't matter how many times i read it , i don't get it. B.S. but the thing is that there's a hell of a lot of people that are ready to believe anything they are told so they can make some noise.

Right, so spearfishing is more damaging then long lining, gill nets, fish traps, dredging, and hook and line fishing dumping mono lines and tangling the reefs........

Quote from japsw

Right, so spearfishing is more damaging then long lining, gill nets, fish traps, dredging, and hook and line fishing dumping mono lines and tangling the reefs........

Even if he wasn't saying it's more damaging, the fact that there's even a comparison is crazy

First off everyone avoids shooting into rock or coral, its a total hastle to get your spear out,,, and on top of that shooting a rock to death would be quite a mission

I think their point is that spearos hurt the reef indirectly by targeting fish that maintain coral, which aren't commonly caught by other means.. as opposed to physically harming the coral with the spear. Either way, it's a pretty weak argument. Here in Florida we can't take species such as parrot fish and surgeon, and places like Hawaii where you can take such fish seem to have flourishing reefs.

The article makes both arguments, and I have seen videos of local spearos shooting tangs on indo reefs, but then again there are a shatload of tangs

I think the distinction between recreational and low level commercial/subsistence spearfishing is important in this discussion. The fishermen, and their catches, the study is based on are all fishing with all kinds of equipment, from small boats in fairly unregulated waters and mainly targeting reef species and sell their catch locally to make their livelihood. In other words, they use whatever they can to make a living. In that situation it makes sense that changes in gear can change the species you target, and seeing how spearfishing can be very effective, especially unregulated and on certain species. Also, these guys don't have access to trawlers or large scale commercial fishing gear, which would probably be more detrimental to the reefs, but are not part of the study since they're not being used.
The gear considered to have the most impact on the reef was traps and spearguns, line fishing was considered the best. My take on it is that it's easier to target "reef-cleaning" and reef beneficial fishes such as wrasses etc. with spears or traps, as opposed to line fishing, which may be more effective in targeting predators..
Also, the main idea of the study was to identify fishing regulations that would allow low level commercial/subsistence fishermen to keep fishing while at the same time provide some ease on the reefs suffering from bleaching events due to high temperature/solar radiation. The other option to protect the coral is a total fishing ban and that is far worse for the involved parties.
However, the study is not applicable to recreational and well regulated spearfishing, which in my book is a different world when it comes to impact on fish stocks or reefs.