So I read an article online a few days ago pertaining to the FWC contemplating raising minimum lengths of some common species we like to hunt. Particularly hogfish. The complaint/argument is that Florida, particularly the keys is over fished. Now I'm a free diver and consider myself a sportsman. The thrill of the hunt while holding my breath to a responsible time, all the while trying to land a nice fish within this small amount of time. If something comes my way, great! If not, it's time to go up, catch my breathe, and try again in a few.
Scuba on the other hand offers no fair chance for the fish, IMHO. Ya ya, "the bubbles scare the fish"... Whatever. Scuba leaves the fish no real place to retreat to and spawn and get it's numbers back up. Most free divers cannot go past 60' on average. Im talking weekend warriors. The more serious free divers are hunting in 80-100'. But, the free divers going to those depths are a lot less common. Any beer drinking pop belly Billy Bob can slap on an air tank, equalize on descent, and basically sit at depth neutralizing anything (100'-120'?).
So my argument/point is this: If the FWC wants to give fish more of a chance to build their numbers back up to say 30-40yrs ago(when scuba wasn't popular), why not restrict spearfishing to free diving? They've already done this in other parts of the world because scuba divers were abusing the sport and over harvesting. You can scuba dive all you want and go sight seeing. If you want to shoot fish, you'll have to man up and hold your breath, no cheating! Do I sound ridiculous gents? :crazy: What say you all?
Chase