To Comp or not to Comp.. That is the question.

[Pastor]

Maybe now is the time to use the spectacle of the spearing competition to promote the positive aspects of our sport. Despite my long running dispute with the BSA it would seem at least one member has corresponded with me to discuss possible solutions to what is a possible thorn in the flesh of spearfishing. It would seem that one member of the British team is willing to take on board the possibility that educating the public at these events is a real possibility. I truly hope that this persons open mindedness wins through and he has my full support.

 

[JPPLAY]

We all know that in reality, even comps once or twice a year have little impact on fish stocks in the area....but for the last time, joe public doen't get this and as such will write, as has happened, to the local gazette and raise negative publicity about comps and by association then link this to the whole sport.

In California they invite the fisher's officers and marine scientists to their competitions. When it came for them to face a ban that was put forward by a scuba diving club the fisher's officer came to the meeting and told the council that there was no environmental reason to ban competitions.

It extremely hard for anything to be positive in everyones eyes. We as people also remember the bad more then we remember the good. I still remember the one person that said a few words against me spearfishing but I don't remember all the people that were genuine interested in what I was doing. I fish in a city where there is a large vegetarian and vegan crowd but I haven't gotten any bad comments here yet. So think please think about also the good comments you have gotten when you have enter and exited the water.

As spaghetti said and to my understanding usually in competitions they put you in the hardest places to spearfish unlike when you go recreational spearfishing or fishing. I don't know of any studies that show that competitive spearfishing is harmful to the environment so why should we stop holding them if we aren't creating a negative effect. We should not try to hide competitive spearfishing as that just seems that we know we are doing something wrong. There is the saying that if it acts like a duck it is a duck. We should act like we are doing nothing wrong. Which is the TRUTH!!!

 

[Mr. X]

...the possibility that educating the public at these events is a real possibility. I truly hope that this persons open mindedness wins through and he has my full support.

There might be something in this. I find folk are usually curious when a diver pops up on a beach & become more so when they see the speargun come out of the water. If they come by, I always answer their questions & if I have caught something & they want see it, I show them. Kids usually want to see the catch & parents want to know details like what the fish are. Often one of them will have done some fishing/scuba/snorkelling or have an interest in seafood. Most have probably never considered spearing, let alone competitions - so there is your chance to help them form an opinion. If you have a natural enthusiasm for the activity, the shoreline environment, the prey & fresh, organic, "free range" seafood, they'll pick up on it.

 

[Pastor]

I see that the proposals for the AGM have been published on the BSA website

 

[sciencemike]

There might be something in this. I find folk are usually curious when a diver pops up on a beach & become more so when they see the speargun come out of the water. If they come by, I always answer their questions & if I have caught something & they want see it, I show them. Kids usually want to see the catch & parents want to know details like what the fish are. Often one of them will have done some fishing/scuba/snorkelling or have an interest in seafood. Most have probably never considered spearing, let alone competitions - so there is your chance to help them form an opinion. If you have a natural enthusiasm for the activity, the shore line environment, the prey & fresh, organic, "free range" seafood, they'll pick up on it.

Perfectly spoken!
I always get asked about my fish. So i have little stories to tell kids about each type of fish i catch. I always start with how they taste, and cooking and such at first. Then proceed to some technical details. Lastly i always show their teeth! Always a kid pleaser. One time i made the mistake of showing a little girl a large sheephead i had shot throug the eye sockets. As i extended the fish to her both eyes popped out about 1 inch and she screamed. I quickly apologized and showed a nice cute one with they eyes inside the head. I will never make that mistake again.

But i ALWAYS add in the blurb about how this type of fishing is humane and environmentaly friendly.

 

[BenFord]

Hi guys,
just wanted to say that i did not see any of you at the AGM on saturday to express your views???
Im not a member of the bsa but i went along to hear there points of view and was made very welcome by all, big thanks to the london and southsea club, Glenn cooke,paolo de micheals,keith fellowes, graham worley and tim barnett for not making me not feel like an outsider,
i do have some things that i will post later on comp and how my view has now changed a little in what should be done.
Will post later.
Ben

 

[spaghetti]

Bad news...(well, for me it's bad news)
The french official Cmas affiliated federation decided to stop competitions. Reason: "it's no more acceptable to kill living beings for a title, for a medal or for a cup". Quote.
FFESSM - Fédération française d'études et de Sports Sous-Marins - Actualites

 

[azapa]

Bad news...(well, for me it's bad news)
The french official Cmas affiliated federation decided to stop competitions. Reason: "it's no more acceptable to kill living beings for a title, for a medal or for a cup". Quote.
FFESSM - Fédération française d'études et de Sports Sous-Marins - Actualites

wow! emotive to say the least, and unfortunately a good, short and sweet argument. angling comps could be banned using same at the flick of a wrist (pun intended). worrying times. or time for thought?

 

[spaghetti]

Bad news...(well, for me it's bad news)
The french official Cmas affiliated federation decided to stop competitions. Reason: "it's no more acceptable to kill living beings for a title, for a medal or for a cup". Quote.
FFESSM - Fédération française d'études et de Sports Sous-Marins - Actualites

the question is: how long will it take before some sissy will say "it's no more acceptable to kill living beings for the fun of catching them and eventually eating them"....?
this said, not a big problem for french competitive spearos. Most of them are no more members of the FFESM, wich conglomerates all sorts of underwater activities (mostly scuba) and has been trying for years to single out spearfishing.
As a consequence, some 95% of french spearos went out of the FFESM and founded their own independent federation, affiliated to the international indepent spearo federation FIPSA (I think Ted Budion is a member of the board). Nothing will change for the french, but could change for all the others: years ago the general assembly of Cmas tried to ban spearing competitions, but the french advocated against the ban along with spain and Italy. And so if now France becomes anti-comp, I can't see a future for Cmas competitions.
I think it's very important to point out this: as far as we can see, the french ban has NOT been decided by french spearos. It has been decided by a federation which only virtually represents spearos, but which substantially represents recreational scuba divers, because the french federation mixes it all.

 

[JPPLAY]

As a consequence, some 95% of french spearos went out of the FFESM and founded their own independent federation, affiliated to the international indepent spearo federation FIPSA (I think Ted Budion is a member of the board). Nothing will change for the french, but could change for all the others: years ago the general assembly of Cmas tried to ban spearing competitions, but the french advocated against the ban along with spain and Italy. And so if now France becomes anti-comp, I can't see a future for Cmas competitions.

I think Ted is the president spaghetti. From what I read about CMAS spearfisherman were not liking how they were being treated so if they are really that bad it good to see the change. The Canadian team competes with the FIPSA. So you think Italy might move over to the FIPSA with this change? How long do you think it will take?

 

[Mr. X]

...I think it's very important to point out this: as far as we can see, the french ban has NOT been decided by french spearos. It has been decided by a federation which only virtually represents spearos, but which substantially represents recreational scuba divers, because the french federation mixes it all.

Yes, I can't see, say, BSAC or PADI providing useful representation for spearos. I'm surprised the French competition spearos & SCUBA divers managed to co-exist under the same organisation until now. I suppose with the EU overseeing the continued depletion of our fish stocks, they'll eventually have an excuse to ban all fishing.

 

[Spaniard]

It would be interesting to see if BSAC in the UK changed their stance at all if competitions were stopped? After all, any ban on taking 'fish' would affect many, many scuba types who are used to taking flatfish, lobster and crab etc. There is currently a motion in the Canary Islands which, if passed, would effectively ban spearfishing in the remaining areas in which it is still allowed. Who will be next? It is all so stupid when you see the amount of dead fish thrown back into the sea every day because of quotas. F***ing politicians, they will never understand who really cares about the sea.....

 

[BenFord]

No they won't spaniard, they only care about making them selves look good in the public eye.

 

[Pastor]

No they won't spaniard, they only care about making them selves look good in the public eye.

Being unemployed at the moment and unable to afford the 600 mile round trip to the AGM I would be grateful if you could explain that to me

EDIT: Sorry I completely misread your post, I thought you were referring to the BSA

 

[dave]

It would be interesting to see if BSAC in the UK changed their stance at all if competitions were stopped? After all, any ban on taking 'fish' would affect many, many scuba types who are used to taking flatfish, lobster and crab etc.

Quick answer, no!
I spoke to the BSAC Technical Manager regarding the BSAC support for a ban on spearfishing in South Wales. Apparently, the BSAC objects to spearfishing by snorkellers and scuba divers, but has no opinion on freedivers spearfishing. When I asked what difference it made to the fish, and what exactly the difference was between a freediver and a snorkeler he was unable to answer. He also told me that scuba divers taking flatfish with a spike or knife is not spearfishing!:head
As far as I can tell, non of this has been discussed at a BSAC AGM and voted on, it is simply the personal prejudices of one of their paid officers being presented as policy
cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment

 

[ILDiver]

This is a pretty depressing thread . I feel for you guys. Here in Illinois I can't really spear either, I have to drive 3+ hours north. I wish there was something the WORLD of spearfishing could do to raise awareness. I really did not know too much on specifics of the plight of our oceans and other bodies of water until I started spearing. I knew some, but have learned so much more since starting. People hear the scare tactics and that is what they remember. The negative voice always out weighs the positive and that is sad. And they target the easiest/smallest group as if that will fix the problem.

Good luck to you guys in Europe, I do sympathize.

 

[Mr. X]

... the BSAC objects to spearfishing by snorkellers and scuba divers, but has no opinion on freedivers spearfishing. When I asked what difference it made to the fish, and what exactly the difference was between a freediver and a snorkeler he was unable to answer. He also told me that scuba divers taking flatfish with a spike or knife is not spearfishing!:head
As far as I can tell, non of this has been discussed at a BSAC AGM and voted on, it is simply the personal prejudices of one of their paid officers being presented as policy

roflWith that kind of insight & wisdom, its a wonder he isn't a government minister.

...I wish there was something the WORLD of spearfishing could do to raise awareness...

I don't know. Maybe a low profile is not such a bad thing. As Dave's post illustrates, there are plenty of well meaning but ignorant people holding positions of responsibility/power - who should know better. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." On the other hand, the recent campaign to stop a S. Wales ban looks like it might have successful (or did I speak too soon?).

...Good luck to you guys in Europe, I do sympathize.

Thanks. We'll need it. You don't know the half of it

 

[scottie3030]

have a look at what the rod and line boys been up Sea Fishing UK - Sea Angling UK Resource maybe we could do something like this!?

 

[ILDiver]

A dive shop up in Wisconsin does an annual Lake cleanup, shore and inwater. They have a cookout after where they give prizes for most unique item, biggest item, most trash and then random door prizes.