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And your reasoning for this, or lack of?

PS: And now they are not only "renegades" but also "idiots".

At least according to Elbert and Rykat.

And, I use a hawaiian sling. I guess that puts me in the "man" catogory. Maybe the "old man" catagory. But Rykat, if you think any idiot can do it, I would be pleased to do it with you, and see just how good you are. I mean at spear fishing. If you are correct that any idiot can do it. then you might surprise me.

I thought I better sleep on this before deciding whether or not to write it. Well, I slept on it and now I am going to write it.
Before Elbert or Rykat ever heard of Belize, it was British Honduras and most people on Ambergris Caye provided for and fed their families by free diving for lobster, conch and spearing fish. This was before scuba tanks, gringos coming to make a living off of taking people diving and "manufacturing land" to build sub divisions and sell condos.
The environment and marine ecosystem were much better off then.
It was hard work. They were not renegades or idiots. I seriously doubt if those calling them that could do it. It took hard physical effort, knowledge of the sea, its creatures and a skill.
I was fortunate to learn of that from the likes of Gabby Perez, Jose Gonzales and others. It gave me a greater appreciation for their way of life and their part of the world.
This is a tradition that should not be looked upon despairingly, but preserved and taught.
I continue to defend the sport of spear fishing as one that is the least damaging to the overall fish population as a means of harvesting the resource and one that teaches and allows those that participate to have a better understanding of the resource.
Having had that tradition taught to me, I have an understanding of it and names like renegades and idiots are farthest from my mind when I think of how to describe those that carry on the tradition or those who want to educate themselves in that tradition.
Now I do have some names for those calling them that, but I better sleep on it.

Thats all very true Bywarren and a good colorful piece of history.
I was out there with a spear the the good old days as well, but that's all past and what we have now is way to many tourist and to little fish to enjoy the reef like we used to. The World has changed and If we have an big grouper hanging around on the reef he can make us all money everyday or be just one meal for one guy.
I wish it where different but the reef has thousands of visitors every month and if we allow even a small percent of them spearguns while snorkeling the fish population will be wiped out.
I also agree that sport spear fishing may be more rewarding and less destructive than sport fishing with a rod and reel, but it couldn't be controlled and we would have spears in the hands of the masses of tourist we have visiting that would shoot what ever was slow and dumb enough to be seen.

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me too.

Elbert, the fish population hasn't diminished due to spear fishing or sport fishing with rod and real. The demand for seafood created by the numbers of tourists coming to the island, many to dive, has been met by fish traps, gill nets, long lining, shrimp trawlers, etc. All much more destructive to the overall population than spear fishing.
Granted, it is time moving forward and the past is the past. But to try and protray spear fishing as the vilian while encouraging and creating more demand on the resource inorder to make your living is hypocritical and inaccurate.
The future of the island rests on management. Spear fishing, diving operations, developement all can co-exist when controlled and managed properly. And anyone of them can be destructive if not done right.
So like I said before, keep your prejudices in your boat and do your part to minimize the strain you cause on the resource and let the rest of us do the same.

I've never said the fish population has diminished due to spear fishing, i said it would if we did allow tourist to spear fish.
And your correct the demand from restaurants and the new large population is the reason the fish population is down.
The rangers and Department of Fisheries controls the yahoos with spears in their boats by jailing them and confiscating their boats so i can relax about the issue its handled.

From you last thread on spearfishing

So now we can add yahoos to the name calling.
Sounds like anyone without a tank on his back, a mask and fins on and an underwater camera, is the destruction of it all - according to Elbert.

I stand by my point, if every tourist had to spear or catch the fish he is going to eat that night, there would be many more fish and alot more hungry tourist.
Of course there would be less tourists going just diving. Not that that would influence anyones views.

I really believe that if we stopped the fishermen around the island from taking every single fish they catch without any regard for size and species we would be in a better position than to stop people from Spearfishing.

Our problem is never going to be spearfishing here. I think in most cases those that hunt tend to have a much better grasp of living in tune with nature than those that simply have their food handed to them at the end of a line. I think this is also true with divers.

In my opinion there should be no fishing at all within 5 miles of town in any direction. That would keep all the dive sites and snorkel sites teaming with marine life.

Draw a circle around the island and call it a no take zone, catch and release only. You could easily use the funds from the fishing license to enforce this and everyone would be better off.