Hi Guys.
It's been a long time since I've been on Deeper Blue. It's good to be back.
I only have a few things to say about those who spear in the tropics.
I've read a book called,"Native Use Of Fish In The Hawaiian Islands". In it it describes the size, species, and numbers of fish surveyed through out the islands from late 1870's through the 1920's, and beyond. The common size of fish was astounding to read about. Also surprising was the harvesting mentality of the rules applying to the ocean fish of the time. These people really knew their food much better than we do. They fed the fish, built ponds to grow them; traps to take them (without taking so much as to scare the other fish), and they also took very severe steps to protect their stocks from over fishing. (The book also details how they cooked and ate them.)
I also recommend web surfing to a group called 'Hui Malama o Mo'omomi' that has applied much of the ancient Hawaiian knowledge to raise the sea life biomass off the North Shore of Molokai to 2 to 3 times the average for Hawaii's waters. Some of the ideas they've implemented are not to take the older female fish like the Threadfin as they produce more eggs than the young ones, and not to take the large male parrotfish which assemble harems.
I'm thinking that we as spearos should research this kind of conservative spearing as caretakers of the ocean. Other ideas they've implemented are 'Take only what you can eat, don't stock your freezer and don't take fish when they spawn.'
The future looks grim for the ocean's fish, but we can all do our bit.
All this is enforced through peer pressure, a code of conduct.
It's been a long time since I've been on Deeper Blue. It's good to be back.
I only have a few things to say about those who spear in the tropics.
I've read a book called,"Native Use Of Fish In The Hawaiian Islands". In it it describes the size, species, and numbers of fish surveyed through out the islands from late 1870's through the 1920's, and beyond. The common size of fish was astounding to read about. Also surprising was the harvesting mentality of the rules applying to the ocean fish of the time. These people really knew their food much better than we do. They fed the fish, built ponds to grow them; traps to take them (without taking so much as to scare the other fish), and they also took very severe steps to protect their stocks from over fishing. (The book also details how they cooked and ate them.)
I also recommend web surfing to a group called 'Hui Malama o Mo'omomi' that has applied much of the ancient Hawaiian knowledge to raise the sea life biomass off the North Shore of Molokai to 2 to 3 times the average for Hawaii's waters. Some of the ideas they've implemented are not to take the older female fish like the Threadfin as they produce more eggs than the young ones, and not to take the large male parrotfish which assemble harems.
I'm thinking that we as spearos should research this kind of conservative spearing as caretakers of the ocean. Other ideas they've implemented are 'Take only what you can eat, don't stock your freezer and don't take fish when they spawn.'
The future looks grim for the ocean's fish, but we can all do our bit.
All this is enforced through peer pressure, a code of conduct.