Atlantic giant bluefin tuna footage No 2

[Virgili]

I red in the latest issue of Int. Free diving & spear. News, the full report of WR Pacific BF tuna landed off the coast of Greymouth, N.Z. and watched the vid.
This short taken on the North Atlantic Coast shows a school hunting in a trawler herring net ( thread on Nov 06 showed gbf Tuna hunting a school in the open sea): http://www.spearfishingmotion.com/videos.html?current_page=4&lang=en
In my opinion the conditions were identical, except the fact that in N.Z. there were less fish in the school ( that's makes the things probably more confortable, because the pressure++ by the school on the diver is less strong).
There is not any reg. in N.Z. about this spearfishing capture and after some discussion with contacts in N.Z., I heard that a reg will probably come soon on the place.
This WR is a great "exploit" (achievement), but problematic. It is not a fish swimming alone or in a little group caught by chance, but probably a hunt well organized in a tuna school, close to fishing boats.
What's about relationships between spearos and prof. fishermen?
Tuna fishing/spearing could be an interesting illustration...
In Canada/USA prof. tuna fishing is avery old and close circle. May be because it needs to do big/risky investment, to have a great experience in the sea and in the fish, to be physically fit all the time during an one /two month season, to accept the unpredictable tuna behaviour, to deal with the international market and strong reg... that,s could make the fishermen lobbie irritable and absolutely indifferent (or opposing) to spearo request.
SF Permit=lost cause?
Imagine how should react this circle side by side with spearos in the middle of trawlers and fishing boats?

 

[rcerdena]

Virgili:
again great footage.
Just a comment about what you said from the commercial fishing: I don' t think that there would be/there is a big impact in the tuna fishing caused by spearos, I don't see their points against spearfishing, so the spearfishing permit should be a reality.
It's just ironic that this laws are done in offices far away from the ocean by people who say that they understand the fishing cicles, allowing big trawlers to fish tons of fishes at a time and banning spearos that could fish a few ones in maybe one day (being very optimistic) or one week, if all the factors are favorable.

And I think this over and over again, while I watch those videos.

Cheers,

Roberto

 

[icarus pacific]

Amazing footage!

The first thing I was thinking of was, as my trigger finger was twitching, if the WR would be disqualified for the use of chum or burley. But since the diver isn't actually doing the chumming...? A blurry line, but I guess if it's OK to lure a Marlin to the boat with teasers, then this should certainly count.

While the few occasions I've had to dive around commercial fishing were pretty good, I will say that the fishermen I know don't like freedivers working in their area. I've been run off a couple times in the FL Keys and though the couple times that I was invited to dive nearby, it was only because they new my friend, and even then, we weren't REAL close. They'd have been happier if we were in the next Ocean.

 

[Virgili]

Thank's for yor your experienced feedback.
GBFTuna prof. fishing in North Atlantic is an only rod fishing ( in Med Sea it is an over netfishing and there are great concerns about this species++ ). The fishing season in USA/ Canada lasts about 5/8 weeks. Basic technic is " No herring school no catch!". An experienced fisherman catches 12/15 fish max. in the season by fishing from 3am. to 6pm. every day.
Let's us imagine a GBF tuna spearfishing permit.So If you plan to catch a tuna of your life, in my opinion you should have only 2 strategies:
- by using a boat Zodiac style and diving close to the herring trawlers among tuna fishing boats...: absolutely unsafe and unrealizable.(video 1)
-by using a powerfull/ full equiped/expensive boat and trying to meet by chance a tuna school in the open sea and being the first++ on the place (video 2): ... it's costs a little fortune, needs to be very lucky++, to do several long boat trips without any garantee.
And heavy swell is not rare...
Or a classic strategy? diving hours long in the open sea with a flasher..Tuna use to move along about 60/100 miles per day and the probability of an encounter is close to zero.
Does anybody have an other plan or technic? wish the debate stays open.

 

[josedesucre]

Chumming is allowed, under certain conditions. You can not take advantage of other people's chum. This are the general rulings by the IBSRC:
[*]Divers must be completely submerged when they fire their gun.
[*]Divers must remain in the water and unassisted until their fish is subdued.
[*]Divers must retain contact with their float and/or line at all times. If they lose contact with their gear, they must find it and reestablish contact with it unassisted and while remaining in the water.

[*]While potentially dangerous, the use of chum or burley or flashers is allowed provided, however, that with the use of chum, divers make and distribute it themselves in the water unassisted (fish used for this purpose must be shot by the diver using it), or in the case of flashers, they carry it themselves unassisted.
[*]Fish must be free-swimming, not restricted by nets, traps, fishing lines or other devices.
[*]Recently tagged gamefish, still exhausted from their recent capture, are ineligible.
[*]Fish must not be in an artificial environment such as penned-in bays, or in close proximity to fish nets, fish rearing pens or sanctuaries.
[*]The catch must not be at variance with any laws or regulations governing the species or the waters in which the fish was caught.
[*]A buddy diver may provide a second or additional unloaded gun to the spearfisher, provided he/she does not assist the diver in any way to subdue their catch.
[*]In most cases mutilated fish, depending on the circumstances, are not allowed.
[*]The use of artificial light sources for night spearfishing is not allowed.
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For its part, IUSA allows "all forms" of chumming, but also emphasize that the fish hunted should be free, not constricted by nets, etc
5.Fish must be free-swimming, unrestricted by nets, traps, fishing lines or other devices.6.Fish must not be in an artificial environment such as penned-in bays, or in close proximity to fish nets or fish rearing pens.