Mellow spearing

[Jas]

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.

 

[Padaxes]

I agree with your sentiments 100% (I did my archaeology dissertation on the Hawaiian Islands and remember reading about fish ponds etc) and admire many primitive cultures for their attitudes towards sustainability.

Of course the real problem is commercial fishing the impact of spearfishing is microscopic in comparison In fact the main reason I started spearing was so I no longer had to buy commercially caught fish.

This year at one of the spots I spear I was taking maybe one or two mature mullet and moving to another spot rather than hit the same place too many times when local fishermen netted ALL the spawning mullet in two days, catching (estimates vary) 6 tonnes or more. In one day they caught more mullet than all the spearos in Cornwall will catch in their lifetimes I would have thought. And that of course pales into insignificance compared to what one trawler gets through.

 

[Jas]

Agreed. Commercial fishing is fuelled by money, unlike spearing which is a mixture of trophy hunting and food gathering. (Speaking for myself- the old me was more trophy hunter than the other. I was thinking of the effect a collective change in targeting thinking might have on the fish stocks that we spearos go after. ie. photo after photo of spearos targeting large male parrot fish when they should be targetting the smaller females in the harem (according to the Hawaiian fishing group listed above). You don't see to many photos of that. How many spearos go and feed the fish stocks in the areas where they spear?
Kind of difficult I suppose for spearos that don't live nearby or maybe there's some law against it somewhere, but wouldn't it be neat if the spearing community took more responsibility in building up our own fish stocks as opposed to trophy hunting. Then passing on that lifestyle to the next generation.
That was my main intention of getting back on these threads.
I'm 35 min from the closest beach now, and don't hardly spear anymore myself. But I thought I'd try to pass on ideas that I've read and somewhat experienced while living in hawaii in years past. When my son is old enough, I'll teach him if it's still legal then. For now we live on a ranch and I get to teach him through growing our own grass fed beef. I explain analogies like - if the bull's were all gone, how would the cows have calves? (I explained that one to my wife for an explanation on the male parrot fish photos.)
Anyhow, happy spearing! Jas