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| Busy day at the Seaway with a spearkiller amongst normal people. |
Why does everybody think that those pathetic killers are fishermen? Only people without a brain would call criminals using explosives in the water fishermen, would they. They may have been fishermen in aboriginal times, those people with a spear. They may have hunted for a tucker.
Not nowadays. As you can see, they have the best and most expensive and deadly equipment. Is it for the money that those fish have to die for? Or is it for the fun somebody feels when he is killing a living animal, that he can exert power over? Is it nice to feel a fish fight on the line, and finally loose an unfair fight for its life? Is it exciting to lure for a fish in a camouflage suit? Or is it a kick getting out of the water and being admired by all real fishermen? They have to read the water, know where there is structure, be patient with odds of a successful catch that is close to zero? For a lot of them it is not about killing a fish but about the fishing experience. I don't understand why fishing lobbies don't throw those spearkillers out, marginalise and poo-poo them. Surely, most spearkillers could afford to buy the fish from licensed, real fishermen with a passion and an understanding of what they are doing and people who have to live from it.
Most fish are territorial and have certain places where they can be met. Scuba divers can almost touch precious big fish at the Seaway. Do they all have to go and die for some pathetic people? Spearkilling is sustainable, I was told once. It certainly is for all the scuba dive shops that seem to make some decent money selling the spearkilling equipment. So, is spearkilling really a sport? If so, why don't we have members of the riffle association go to public parks and shoot any animal that they can spot and humanely kill? Sustainable: how can it be sustainable to allow everybody to buy a killing harpoon and go out for a hunt? Are we talking about 10 people, with almost a 100% fish killing success rate that roam the sea, mostly near the coast line? Are we talking about 1000, 10000? How many spearkillers will we have if everybody finds out how simple it is to kill every fish, a million, ten million?
A protected Queensland Groper, a big, proud 2 metre fish, was sighted inside the Seaway a while ago with a spear sticking out of its body. One day, it will be me or another scuba diver. That was a mistake, wasn't it. But, what is the target fish of spearopaths, diamond fish, guppies, blennies? Whoever said that spearkilling is sustainable may have forgotten that the fish population is part of an ecosystem. So, let me also say something positive about spearkilling: apart from the occasional protected species, there is little collateral damage, at least direct damage to substrate. What you want, is what you kill. Unless, you find another fish that you want. There are always enough fish out there to feed your prey. If I get that right, some species will be targeted, decimated, some maybe close to local extinction. Who is competent to measure the sustainability of spearkilling? Who measures the effects on the rest of the ecosystem? Who is competent to interpolate and determine the tipping point when there are simply too many spearkillers out there that affect the system.
Great white sharks love spearkillers. Ta dum, ta dum, ta dum...great that thanks to spearos a culling of those apex predators can be politically justified and a culling of sharks suddenly seems a good idea in Australia. Please, if ever a Great White will take me, don't cull any of them. But please, if a Spearo kills me, get revenge and regulate the use of spearguns. Don't ever let this weapon near any of those psychopaths that now seem to flock in, buy this tool for their macabre underwater game. Great white belong in the water and the ecosystem needs them, not because they are attracted and eat the half dead fish zapping on the speargun lines. Spearkillers don't belong in the water with everyone else or should at least have a licence to do so. And they better not be short sighted! Of course, even if every household in Australian coastal towns owns and uses a speargun, chances to kill each other would be higher than to eradicate all fish species. No worries, not all fish will die but we will have sick, degenerated habitats if we allow spearkillers to play their games in our front yard.
So, what can normal people and fishermen do to get Spearkillers out of the water? It is quite easy, make them get a licence to carry their gun. Register them and study them. Restrict their activities to some well defined areas and set hefty fines and imprisonment for breaches. Some of these people might just not reflect on what they are doing. It is like squashing an ant or mosquito where we don't think about killing but are actually proud of it. Maybe I am over the top postulating a ban or regulation on spearkilling. Maybe killing a fish doesn't mean a thing, as little as a killing a mosquito or your neighbour's cat. Maybe it's ridiculous to even think about it, making it an issue, let alone asking to legislate it. But edible fish are not insects and fish certainly do feel pain and do show emotions.
Did you ever swim with fish, have you ever made eye contact with a fish? You'd feel as if it could be your pet, your cat or your dog. They are intelligent. I vividly remember my first encounter with Grey Nurse sharks at South West Rocks or some encounters with Manta Rays. Fish know that you are there, they are interested in you. Swimming in a school of fish is better than seeing a flock of birds because you can become part of them. During some night dives, bait fish seek shelter and herd around me in thick clouds. Being one of them I can't see anything but them. They obscure my vision, make me feel more vulnerable to big predators. If shooting fish for sports, why not shooting pictures of them? I am happy to teach anyone the basics and really challenge some spearos.
If it were possible I would rather show my love for fish and the underwater realm than fighting the concept of spearkilling. Being negative and expose myself with the message calling for action, is not something I would choose out of free will. But, land people don't see the interconnectedness of the underwater realm and it's vulnerability. They don't care unless someone makes them aware of what is going on. Life is different under water. Spearkillers not only kill and eat or sell their fish, they will be responsible for degrading the sea that belongs to everyone and that a lot of people enjoy or even depend on for a living. Some tourists are at the Gold Coast and in Australia because of casinos but it is mainly the stunning beauty of the sea that attracts them. We should not put that on the line, not on the speargun line.
Have a look at the spearkiller and his spear gun. Does that look like anyone wants to be near him? Actually, that day they killed and brought back two beautiful, big fish and brought them out and posed with it at the same spot. We don't need to shake hand with them or treat them as heros. They need to realise that they are not welcome anywhere but in their own fish ponds.
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| This photo is not staged. It shows a speargun lying at the concrete platform, at a public place where normal people have to pass through, where there are often children. In Australia, kids are protected and everyone with a swimming pool has to build a fence around it. But weapons can lie around like this in plain daylight. |
Ceterum censeo...carrying a speargun and using it needs to be regulated in Australia. A licence should be reserved to competent people with no criminal history nor history of mental illness. The use of spearguns should be limited to private ponds or a few designated public areas where the potential and actual impact on nature has been researched and keeps being monitored.
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