Shark shooting??

[jodyfreedive]

If a person was to shoot a mako, lets say it was coming at them aggressively just so we don’t go to the publicly correct debate, wouldn’t there be a concern the shark would still attack? Fishermen talk about how makos have attacked them when hooked. If you stuck a spear in one that didn’t stone it, wouldn’t that really piss it off?
Jody

 

[Dogmatrix]

jodyfreedive I found your comment interesting... you say
"If a person was to shoot a mako, lets say it was coming at them aggressively" (jodyfreedive.

Well yeah if you didn't stone it it might decide it was going to take you with it... but if it was coming at you aggressively then that would be a risk you would have to take yeah? otherwise you would get munched while pondering if to shoot or not... :head

Shooting sharks... nah... their are a lot of tasty things out their... if you like to eat them... go for it, myself it's not my cup of tea.

Agro sharks... sometimes you can control them with your spear tip and other reactions. Othertimes they are coming for you and if you don't let fly your lunch... I havent been in that position before but if it's me or the shark... it's me that will be getting out of the water.

Take care, think with your brain not your brawn and you will do fine.
Rob

 

[DeepThought]

From the article about the comerical shark fisher:

Shark species only increase their populations by around 3% in a year because their only real predator is man," she said.

I vote "NO".
Definitly not for Ego purposes - "look, I shot something that was alive only because it was big and has the reputation of a fierce predator..."
I'de say that not even for food... it's just not needed. unless you can really claim it's the only way to sustain your family, and I presume that if that was true then spending time infront of the computer is not the right thing either.

And if it is after my fish, than it's a loss I'm willing to take, it's still better then killing it...

I go along Rob's point of view, if there is going to be some conflict, I'de be the one to get out, rather then willing to fight it if necessery.

Fish procreates much more than than mamels, it explains why entire societies and economies have managed to relay uppon them in history. Sharks are one of the exceptions, 3% per year of population growth is very similar to the human species (2 point something percent), they are not procreating as a specie that is in the lower levels of the food chain. The ilegal and commercial fishing is doing enough to upset the natural order of this food chain, I think that we should'nt aggrevate this situation.

Spearfishers tend to be much more responsible and environmentaly conscious then normal fishers that just catch whatever they can...

I also think that sharks are worth much more as one of those creatures you encounter underwater then on your plate, even though I dove only with reef sharks...

I hope I managed to arouse some second thoughts by who ever thought of shooting one.

Jodfreedive:

lets say it was coming at them aggressively

I hope this won't start a new hunting trend as was presented in southpark once: looking at a family of bunnies grazing peacefully in the pasture.... through the sights of a BAZOOKA, and then shouting: "oh no! they are coming right at us!!" and using your right for self defense....

 

[jodyfreedive]

Michael,
Wasn’t it obvious from my post that my intent was not to encourage shooting of sharks, but only to ask the question what would happen if some put a spear in a Mako? The answer too that may actually help people make the decision to avoid a confrontation that would result in lobing a spear at one.
Jody

 

[DeepThought]

Hi Jody, I got your meaning, sorry if you misunderstood me, but I was just making a joke (or a homage to southpark), not critisizing...

Though to that matter, I guess that fending off a hark with a spear tip on the end of your gun might proof better than shooting a none-lethal shot (regarding to diver safty that is).

 

[fuzz]

Originally posted by DeepThought
Hi Jody, I got your meaning, sorry if you misunderstood me, but I was just making a joke (or a homage to southpark), not critisizing...

I got it

Oh no, that rabbit! It's coming right at me!!

BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!

 

[jodyfreedive]

Michael,
Thanks. I was probably a little over sensitive just after an incident on another thread. Bad timing on my part.
Jody

 

[bunkerspoon]

I've never encountered a shark in new england waters, and i never want to, but I was a mate on a sport fishing charter and we went sharking 5 days a week. From my experiance, if you shoot a shark, he's not going to like it. We gaffed 100#-300# mako's 3-5 times through the head and they didn't even flinch. So i don't know if I'd try and put a single 6.5mm shaft into one.

 

[Snorkel Bum]

Here in the med I have never seen a shark, though I wouldn't mind seeing one to be perfectly honest... just depends how big it is! :duh
Are sharks allowed to be shot??? I didn't think so

 

[harpune1]

i wouldn´t shoot an huge grouper too because i `ve got too mucg respect of them, i wouldn`t dare shooting an that big majestic and impressive animal:king

 

[Murat]

if you will shoot grouper shoot big ones instead of littles Big ones probably had a chance to reproduce....

 

[portinfer]

"They are really nice to eat and taste a bit like swordfish. They're delicious." -- from the bbc story about the Cornwall guy

Kind of speaks for itself. Swordfish is another endangered fish. One that you can buy in Spanish supermarkets etc. Does it make it right to eat ? No, not really. Is it worth preaching about - that depends. Personally I won't eat shark (I used to and shark curry tastes good) nor swordfish.

I have a list at home which indicates which fish are better to eat (not in terms of taste but in terms of ethics / population explotation / dwindling resources). Kind of gives you an indication of human effect on fish populations when you see how many are dropping in stock levels. Commercial fishing really rapes the sea.

If there is less of a demand for these endangered fish then hopefully they won't be targeted so much and the population can grow back to a safe level.

I would agree with alot of people here in that to kill a shark for ego is fekking silly. I met a guide in Kenya who took men elephant hunting ... with bow and arrows. The way he was talking about it made me feel pretty fekked off with him (and I go spearfishing) - seems like a really gung-ho thing to do. I feel the same about shark hunting - spear fishing should be for food in my books.

It is quite a complex issue and if I was attacked I would fight back but that is a very different event than from deliberately targetting shark as a spear fishing species.

 

[DeepThought]

Originally posted by portinfer
I have a list at home which indicates which fish are better to eat (not in terms of taste but in terms of ethics / population explotation / dwindling resources).

Can you post that list please?

 

[portinfer]

Sure - I'll bring it in tomorrow if I remember. Got some scary stats on tuna that nobody will want to hear either ! Read an article the other day on tuna stock and then saw a post here on that Spanish hunter who just shot a big tuna.

These are large slow growing fish which have enough of a hard time from commercial fishing - personally I wouldn't shoot one (wouldn't have the cojones either ! "blue-sled special" to the bottom...) - but perhaps if people are going to shoot fish like this they should understand what the effect is and get a little educated on the facts.

I'll try to post that list tonight or tomorrow and some of those stats from the tuna article.

 

[poacher]

Originally posted by Murat
if you will shoot grouper shoot big ones instead of littles Big ones probably had a chance to reproduce....

Murat Maybe it is better to shoot only the fish that are big enough to have spawned or reprodec atleast 1 or 2 times but are still not very big
In Australia a lot of our fish have minimum and maximum size limits.
Big female fish lay many many more times the number of eggs as smaller fish so therefore are much more beneficial to increasing the population of a species.
an example of this would be a Flathead -minimum size 40cm and maximum size 75cm
so we can still catch some but if they are too young to have bred or big enough to lay heaps of eggs we have to leave them alone.

 

[Baur]

Grouper in the Med after 12 kilos cannot reproduce anymore. Grouper is a hermaphrodite, meaning until 5-7 kilos its is female and from 8-12 kilos it becomes a male. Taking groupers overs 12 kilos does the smallest damage to the ecosystem as far as reproduction is concerned.
But another factor is that the larger the Grouper is the more fish it gathers around him (sea breams, snappers, other smaller groupers..etc.) and when you kill it the area around becomes deserted. So wherever there is a big grouper there will always be smaller other fish to shoot.

 

[Murat]

hi poacher thats very good that you have max-min size limit according to the scientific facts, we don't have it here since spearfishing underdeveloped here, i just try not to shoot baby ones. But finding 10-12 kg grouper here is very very rare probably if you dive 2-3 times a week you can find one a year or in two years. Don't mentioning that you have to dive very deep to see those fishes.... to be honest if i encounter with good size one and not taken single fish during the day, i shoot it for the dinner.

 

[poacher]

Murat,
Some of the Queensland Groper and some types of spotted Cod ( Similar to groper)
I forget proper names can be well over 100kg these fish used to be fairly common but heaps were speared by guys on scuba with powerheads in the 60's and 70's- that is why scuba and powerheads are not allowed for spearing fish here.


Note -For you guys in USA and other places that can spear legally on scuba think about this and only shoot a few average size reef fish to eat or stick to pelagics that are common spearing slow moving bottom fish on scuba will only get it banned where it isnt already.
Regards Peter

 

[Murat]

I know groupers grows very big. The type we shoot is black and dusky grouper. I know a man who is 60 years old, he is hunting from when he was 10 and he never shoot bigger than 20 kg grouper in cyprus, only in egean sea. The biggest grouper speared in island during competition is 15-16kg, this record also belongs to him.So you see somewhere groupers does not have chance to grow that much for uncertain reasons..

 

[portinfer]

Here is some information for any one interested in fish stocks etc :

http://www.mcsuk.org/action/gfginfo.htm
http://www.mcsuk.org/action/gfgtop25.htm

Also the October 2003 edition of The Ecologist has a good report on the bluefin tuna (I have a PDF but it is a meg and a half - let me know if you want it and I may slap it up on some webspace...makes for interesting reading, not all the articles in the report are well written but the core message is that the BF are going to disappear unless we are careful ... )