Quote from: Syed K. A. on September 10, 2008, 02:25:00 PM

What if the Dive Organizer allow SPEARFISHING in Marine Park for the TRIP???? ....Spearfishing trip always attract divers.

BTW to divers that dont know about Spear gun, YOU NEED LICENSE FROM The Police (Bukit Aman) to buy & keep it .... you dont need license for GLOVES & POINTER.

No Spear Gun license issued since 1995 & you can't RENEW your expired license.

Why dont we start with ourself to help & stop this Spear fishing activities in Marine Park...

a. BY advice to owner & organizer

b. Report to relevant department (Taman Laut/Police Marine/Police)

c. Put it up here so we know which DIVE OPERATOR & LOB not to go with & SHAME on the operator & organizer.
- Shame on the divers that dives with them
- Shame on them for not making SAFETY in diving the PRIORITY

We CARE right, so lets make the change  ...DO we really care??? 

 

I'm all for this.

Its not true.......

Is spearfishing can be considered as the same activity as fishing??? fisherman or deep sea fishing?

Spear Gun is illegal, but does sling shot considered spear fishing as well?

So, if the resort owner spear fish for food is it considered ok??

itikuek, i don't understand - what is not true? Please elaborate.

I hope everybody can play their role and stand out to make the report to the respective authorities.  Better still with all the infos and evidence.  .... It must be stopped!!

I am speachless...

 

ohhh... dun forget a coleman full of 'inedible' fishes!! moray not spared!! sheeshhh

At the end of the day, there will be some bad apples around. This is true whether you are scuba diving or driving a car. Yes there are laws, but the problem is the implementation of these laws. Could someone please tell me whom I should report such an incident if it happened to me? As for the new students, who were they going to complain to? The DM? He was there with them. The only thing they could've done was not get on the boat.

From what i understood, the authority may involve in such activity too.

I was there to witness such accident in Tioman, we had a group of OWD students and few leisure divers.
This we can't blame to DC eventhough our DM has warned and threathen them.
 
These guys (fish killers!) even have 'the gust' to said that Marine Park allow such activities and our so-called Marine park 'guys' took them to such spots.
WORST Informing them, that they can spear fish as long they're away from the main island.
Worst case, if these guys are foreigners either white or Asians! They are our touch & go guests.
So what law does we have over them.
Worst if they are Marines. Our law has no say over them.

then again, i do not VOTE such activities.
Since the incident, our OWDs appreciated & understood what is MARINE life is about.

Sadly, that day we did not see any big beautiful coral fishes but nudies on the rocks.
fyi, fishes do understand fear and I've seen it in their eyes too.

For a better understanding of the term, let's call this HUNTING. Hunting using SCUBA is unheard of in developed countries. Let's call this Spearhunting. Hunting whilst FREE DIVING is an acceptable sport but not in a marine park. Let's call this Spearfishing.

And the people who SPEARHUNT ought to be exposed.

1) It puts the whole boat in jeopardy. Not just the safety but when the police catches you, all the equipment onboard the boat, REGARDLESS of whether you were hunting or not, WILL BE CONFISCATED. INCLUDING THE BOAT. So if your expensive dive gear is onboard, so sorry for you. Surely you didn't come here to shoot but the mere fact of you being on the same boat (pun intended), you are implicated as an ACCOMPLICE in the possession & usage of a FIREARM.

2) If you are taken into jail, it would be on your record. IS IT WORTH IT TO GO DIVING & GET JAILED FOR SOMETHING YOU DID NOT DO??? There is no bail allowed on weekends because the courts are not open. You sit inside whether you are right or wrong.

3) If there are instructors on board, THEY OUGHT TO MAKE A JUDGMENT CALL.

4) If the instructors themselves are spearhunting, then their actions say a lot about their professionalism already especially when they choose to flout the law.

5) Call Bukit Aman, forget about the marine police or marine parks. If you think they are dangerous, record the number plate of the boat & get help from resorts. Know your rights & the law.

 

I disagree with some of the opinions here which are outright against spearfishing/speargun fishing in general. IMO Spearfishing is just another form of fishing. Legality is a totally different issue. With regards speargun fishing, there are sufficient laws to govern the use of spearguns and in the eyes of Malaysian law is under the infamous firearms act. I believe licensed bona fide speargun owners are very responsible, very eco friendly, only take what they want to eat, which is more than what I can say for myself and most of us not involved in spearfishing when I don't even know the ecological aspects of the very fish I eat.

Our beef is with enforcement (as always) or the lack thereof.

A good primer is found here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearfishing

Any MUW memeber reported to be involved in spearfishing should be delisted.

ehh...nice to see u commenting bro...hehe... sorry for digressing... back to topic please...hehe...

i dont quite get it? then what the marine police doing there, only to guard the coral?

1. If Spearfishing is allowed, then go to SPEARFISHING GROUND to Spear!!!! this is marine park for God Sake! Not only innocent fishes be killed, innocent people will be killed as well!!
We dont have traffic light or zebra crossing underwater to tell us to stop dive there coz of spears coming!
I know its very "good looking" to know and to carry the instrument of spearfishing. Who cares if one are so good in this sport and showing it off? Wait till people die and earth collapsing, who cares how good you are at that time?


2. few weeks ago, i watched a local tv program about traveling in Redang. The guys catch fishes too!!!
ok, i am being over reacted, it just some fishes. But as far as i am concerned.... if its a place where is call and name "protected" its means PROTECT! so if the media shows fishing, the next upcoming tourist will want to do the same. And once this follows, what left in the sea is only rocks!


I'm quite disappointed with the instructor that allowed the newbies to "play" such dangerous sports at any "ground". We learned diving to enjoy the beauty underwater and to preserve it. I guess there's always good community and bad community wherever there are living souls breathing. Some prefer the beauty to stay forever while some wants more exaggerated happening underwater.
Even rules set to punish and penalize them, it still wont stop them to have this fun sport. They will tell u, this is their passion too. They are rich enough to pay to get free from penalized.
So, what rules could stop them? Unless we use spear head fish to spear them back:D
Alternatively, Gantung dia punya license for lifetime    or
Inject him with tracking bar (like the fish) to track if he still spears!!!!     lol
               
  
     

Hi Hermit Crab, please do an introduction of yourself in the INTRODUCTIONS thread so we can get to know you better. Thank you.

From what i understood, the authority may involve in such activity too.

I was there to witness such accident in Tioman, we had a group of OWD students and few leisure divers.
This we can't blame to DC eventhough our DM has warned and threathen them.
 
These guys (fish killers!) even have 'the gust' to said that Marine Park allow such activities and our so-called Marine park 'guys' took them to such spots.
WORST Informing them, that they can spear fish as long they're away from the main island.
Worst case, if these guys are foreigners either white or Asians! They are our touch & go guests.
So what law does we have over them.
Worst if they are Marines. Our law has no say over them.

then again, i do not VOTE such activities.
Since the incident, our OWDs appreciated & understood what is MARINE life is about.

Sadly, that day we did not see any big beautiful coral fishes but nudies on the rocks.
fyi, fishes do understand fear and I've seen it in their eyes too.

bro...need some clarification from u... what did u witness?? did u say the authorities are also involved?? did u see any of them giving these ppl permission to spearfish?? or is it just what those 'hunters' told u?? they can say anything they want... they can even say the PM allow them to spearfish....

and why is our law have no say over them?? if a crime is committed in this country, then we haf say over them... foreigners get hanged for drugs offences here...  

The whole context is debated in a heated manner. We should look into constructive means of curbing spearfishing in Marine Parks instead of calling for delisting of MUW members, using spear heads to spear them back, etc etc and what not...

Points to ponder is that HOW TO STOP DIVE OPERATORS FROM ALLOWING HUNTERS TO CARRY OUT HUNTING IN MARINE PARKS?

As we all know, most divers rely on Dive Operators to facilitate their dives. Having known this is a fact, what we should do is to list down and publish it publicly the names of dive operators who also facilitates hunters as part of their so called 'extra' services. Having their names publicly revealed (of course with solid reliable evidence to back up such allegations), all environment-loving divers WILL NOT patronise these operators anymore. It's up to them to decide whether it's the majority divers $ that they want to earn or the minority hunters' $. Fact wins. So that will teach them a lesson on market supply and demand. Ppl like JuLee, gcg, marlene, irukanji and others who have personally witnessed such activities on the marine parks to expose these irresponsible dive operators. Once the list is out, I am sure that these jokers will cease their 'extra' services.

For Instructors and DMs who hunt in the marine parks, I believe by exposing their names will benefit the whole community as well. Instead of projecting a good example to being a responsible diver, what they do is simply unacceptable. Since that they do not love their job to teach as much as they love to hunt, we shall help them to cease teaching and let them continue hunting in marine parks to feed their families. It is a cowardly act to hunt these reef dwellers in the parks as they have grown to live unharmed by the presence of divers. Hunting them down in such manners do not bring any excitement to the sport of hunting. Like what SeaDemon said, let's move the hunting to the open seas where the fun begins. 

I support spearfishing as long as it's done in the open seas with no leisure divers around. What I don't support is the cowardly act of spearfishing in the parks where all the fishes  just 'tunggu di tembak'.

Sometime back, a certain liveaboard patronised by MUW members with some members who are well connected, got onto the island of Tenggol to pick a bone with a witness who saw them drop anchor on a reef. This particular liveaboard had been told numerous times to stop spearhunting in the vicinity but it continued to do so.

Marine parks & fisheries have no jurisdiction to catch perpetrators. Only the police from Bukit Aman can. Can somebody provide the hotline numbers to access the police should one witness any incident? Best is to take a picture of the boat/hunters to prove that they were there.

It must be a concerted effort from everyone & not just those who feel strongly about this issue.

I will start the ball rolling. I have already boycotted Wavebreaker for 6 years now.

I, as an individual, not in any official capacity of my work, will not patronise nor support:-

1) Wavebreaker
2) Blue Dolphin (Kuantan)
3) Divemaster (Malaysia)
4) A resort in Tenggol that has changed names many times.
5)
6)
8)
9)

Feel free to add as you please. This is an expose if you like to call it. I am quite fed up of having to tell them off time & again for the last 10 years so it's up to you to join me in my boycott of their services.