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09/08/2005: "FISH RIGHTS .......this picture says it all."
Fish deserve better rights than what we have given them.....or am I just becoming soft? This picture says a lot, the gallant fight the little long tom type garfish is putting up....but it won't be enough.
If people knew how spear fishing competitions wasted fish during the 1960's they'd throw rotten eggs at the competitors today. There were fish that should have been left alone, speared for the sake of a point score that is next to meaningless today.
All those rocky reefs around Sydney - virtually everything 100 nautical miles, north and south was wiped out. All the little maori, ruxton, cale, cockies, parrotfish, silver drummer, ling, and even at one time, blue devil fish were speared and then thrown back in the sea. The better grade fish was kept.
(A bit like what prawn trawlers do every night, but the difference was, spearing was in shallower waters where people may have enjoyed snorkeling in the future).
It's the same region where today, a mysterious disease is effecting what abalone exist there.
The taking of commercial abalone from this region 100 miles either side of Sydney has been banned for some months. Southern tip of Jervis Bay to Shoal Bay approximately.
Spear fishing comps are still a great diving intro to the sea. A better point scoring system should have been thought of that did not involve killing and waste. Something that TV sports would pick-up. Then the door opens ....... as it did for surfing. With today's tiny TV camera's anything is possible.
