In response to F&WL Commissioner David Jennings and Northwest Dive News, March issue, Volume 15, issue 3, page 8.
Yes, it has been a “hot button” for spearfishermen regarding the new Lingcod slot limits implemented in the 2010 Washington fishing regulations! I completely agree with Michael Rigik, Rick Stratton and many other spearfishermen concerning the possibility of wasting of fish. The standing rule is impractical and simply does not make sense. You can’t pre-measure a wild, free swimming animal underwater before spearing it!!
I have been spearfishing in the Puget Sound since 1986 along with several highly experienced and very close diving friends. Over the years we have seen more and more regulations put on spearfishing when it comes to harvest limits, closed fishing areas and reduced season length. So, now in some sort of attempt to “align” spearfishing rules with line fisherman, the obvious question to us (spearfishermen) is… Why is the spearfishing season still roughly half as long as the line fishermen? There was enough thought put into applying the same size limits to spearfishing, but not quite enough thought to at least give us the same season as in the past (seven weekends vs. four weekends)?
I would have to believe that the percentage of harvesting done by spearfishing compared to harvesting by the line anglers has to be very different (in favor of the angler). In order to go spearfishing, a person has to spend the extra time and expense for a diving certification, dive gear, a speargun, purchase a fishing license and if you are one of lucky souls to have your own boat!? Then you have to purchase all the permits, licenses, fuel and perform all the maintenance and upkeep on it as well! Doesn’t take long for all that to add up to a healthy bill! And we do all this so we can get maybe 3 or 4 dives in during a four weekend season! Spearfishing is hard enough in itself and slot limits reduce the chances for success by that much more. The real shame of the applied rule is that once a fish has a spear through it, it’s a done deal! There’s no “spear and release” program! So, if a fish is brought back to the boat, measured and rendered out of the regulation slot rule (less than 26 inches or over 36 inches) it will be thrown back a dead or a dying fish. How is that logical in the conservation of a species? Why add slot limits for spearfishing.
It was interesting to read the quotes made by D. Jennings in this article. It sounds like he has logged many dives in the Puget Sound and has had great luck photographing Lingcod. However, Jennings did say that he does not spearfish and that the other eight committee members (who made the current rule) are not divers at all!
There are some great underwater parks here in the Pacific NW i.e. Edmonds Underwater Park. The parks areas are obviously closed for harvesting and the fish there are so use to divers that they would practically let you reach out and touch them! If you want to try your hand at underwater photography, areas such as this would be a great place to do it. No doubt you could swim right up to a 40 lb. Lingcod or many other fish in these protected areas. On the other hand, I challenge you to do this in an open fishing area with not so calm seas, underwater hazards, depth, moving currents and water magnification? It becomes a very different story! You may see your “one” fish swimming away from you or maybe just see an eyeball reflecting from your light in a deep dark hole. From my experience, Lingcod barely give you time to turn the safety off on the speargun, much less pull out and use a measuring device before trying to harvest your “one” fish!
I would really like to see the spearfishing season brought back to its original season length (same as the line anglers). I would also like to see the slot limits removed completely! Most divers in our group would have no problem recording their catch, as all anglers do with salmon, halibut, steelhead, sturgeon and crab. This may give you the data you need to see what’s really going on. Keep it simple and enforce the one ling cod limit in the areas under this regulation. Why limit the already stringent limit? I give great credit to Mike Rigik in his efforts to be a voice to the Commission. He obviously shares the same concern as many Pacific NW spearfishermen.
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