MANY (not all, but MANY) are incapable of thinking outside of the box… Look, I know a few around Charleston that dive (some even spear) and I have respect for. If they at least get to see and experience the world in different places, then I respect their opinion a lot more even if it doesn’t agree with my own… But here is a depiction of the TYPICAL marine biologist…
I was diving yesterday just out of Miami and there was a marine biology student (in his last year). I was 3 feet away from him and could’t help but to hear his conversation to another diver. He said, “Man, that lobster was so huge. I could never bring myself to take an animal that old. That is a very rare phenotype”… Notice, this is NOT a question. This is a statement. He didn’t ask, “How rare are these?” He made an ASSERTION in front of 20 other divers on the boat which you wouldn’t typically do without some level of confidence…
Keep in mind, these guys are talking about a 3 lb lobster. That is a HUGE one down here…
I asked him where he was from and he said that he was actually from South Carolina (I think he said he lived in Hilton Head). I asked him if he had ever dove in SC before and he said, “No”… I asked him if he has dove anywhere other than south florida and the keys and he again said, “No”…
I assured him that 3 lb lobsters are not very rare at all and maybe he just needed to dive somewhere other than South Florida. Of course, he didn’t seem to believe me. He gave me that look that I had no idea what I was talking about…
And that’s the point.
Many decisions are made from a very limited perspective. This guy has never experienced anything except for what could arguably be the most heavily pressured area that I have personally ever seen. His knowledge is limited to his classroom experience and his handful of dives in South Florida, yet he is will to make bold assertions about how rare 3 lb lobsters are…
Good grief marine biologists. Get your head out of your asses and at least r
BINGO!!! That is the same reasoning behind Red Snapper counts, chevron traps don’t catch Red Snappers = No red Snappers! Take one look at Charlestondiving’s video to see the real snapper numbers
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NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
Should have pulled out the smart phone and flipped through the pages of you guys pulling up those huge bugs.
What’s the likelihood of finding one in SC waters with carapace as big as 6"? Is it every dive in certain depths? The only diving I’ve ever done was free diving on the reefs just offshore (1-2miles) of Ft Lauderdale during mini season. The 3-4" bugs were plentiful there during that few days, but none half the size of what you guys post.
Common sense should tell us that certain areas and certain species will be impacted differently with human predation, off our coast not many have the opportunity to get lobsters, off the Keys they do. Hense we have big lobsters.
I spent several years in the early 70’s in Florida the lobsters, shrimp, crabs, scollops, and fish were amazing! Fact tells me that it is nothing like it used to be and common sense tells me it is do to the influx of humans. I can remember dragging a scollop net with dad in 2-3 hours we would have half a 55 gallon drum filled. I will never forget the by-catch it was amazing. Fact is we were harming the live bottom, common sense tells me over dragging an area is harmfull even more so doing it in excess.
Off our coast fact is small black sea bass are thick, common sense tells me we should allow more harvesting. Fact is most true fishermen have a better understanding of their environment than someone that did all their learning in a classroom. Green horn marine bioligists should be taken with a grain of salt. Too much politics involved in it now, a twenty year vet gets trumped by a top of the class grad student that fits a profile to push an agenda.
Well said Fred. I recently had a commercial crabber tell me he thinks that the phenotypic max size of blue crabs in SC is declining due to the use of escape rings over the last 20 years that have allowed small crabs to escape harvest. Interesting theory hard to prove.
Since we are about to be on the subject of the edisto mpa…is it working? The last couple of times i have trolled around the outcrop i have marked some awesome looking bottom areas i would love to drop on. Is this area being monitored? If so by who and how? Are the results showing an increase in fish size, diversity, population etc. Are they ever likely to re-open it so I can help them “monitor” it?
The kid is still in school that was the key indicator. The “real world” hasn’t slapped him in the face yet. Ha Ha, It reminds me of when I was that age, but I would rather listen to someone and not believe them than fuss at them. I learned by keeping my mouth shut that I was wrong a lot of the time. Momma always told me if you talk less, people will think your smarter! Somehow it made me smarter.
The kid is still in school that was the key indicator. The “real world” hasn’t slapped him in the face yet.
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>The problem is that many of them sit around waiting on their next $25,000 dollar grant in hopes that they get to do a small shoestring budget project next year. I seriously doubt that many of them ever get the funding to truly experience the “real world”. That doesn’t stop them from making pretty wreckless assumptions though…
Since we are about to be on the subject of the edisto mpa…is it working? The last couple of times i have trolled around the outcrop i have marked some awesome looking bottom areas i would love to drop on. Is this area being monitored? If so by who and how? Are the results showing an increase in fish size, diversity, population etc. Are they ever likely to re-open it so I can help them “monitor” it?
26’ Glacier Bay
Mistress
That depends on your definition of "working"... I have spent 4 hours underwater in National Marine Sanctuaries in the Keys in the past 2 weeks and have seen 6 legal black grouper, 1 large red grouper, and 3 mutton snappers. I could see way more than that (sub gags for blacks and reds for muttons) on many of my "hidden" NON-sanctuary bottom areas in Charleston in about 4 seconds.
Ouch skinneej that hurts my aspiring marine biologist feelings, just messing with you man. I am in my second year working on my masters in Marine Biology. I am hoping to be with DNR when finished, hopefully they have some type of an increase in salary. They lose some of the best due to this issue, but we still have many dedicated intelligent individuals working for the state. Anyways, I digress.
Another issue is you get people from Ohio or some other land locked state coming down here wanting to be a marine biologist, but they have never even been on the water! It is insane how many people couldn’t even name a handful of the local fish species, they are somewhat better now. My personal favorite is when they first realize they get sea sick. I hunt, fish, spearfish, whatever I can do to get outside and have been my entire life. I am lucky to have had the opportunities and the experiences. I believe you can learn more from experiencing it first hand than reading it from a book. Even then I do not make crazy statements like I have been there and done that or know it all, I am still young and have much to learn. O-yeah as far as the budget goes unless you are a fed, you are overworked, underpaid, and understaffed. We do the best we can with what we have available (better than the feds do it), it would be awesome if they would throw us a few more bones. Unfortunately, some research is better than no research. Not all of us are clueless Johnny Ohioians, and I was not trying to be a smart ass skinneej.
And sells we do catch snapper in the traps, they caught one a few weeks ago around 30lbs. I think around 50 total were landed in a single cruise, yeah I know not a big sample size. Agreed that it is definetly not the best method to catch them, we do some hook and line sampling to catch larger reef species. We also now have cameras on the traps, which helps us see what doesn’t enter the traps. Its really cool to be able to check out whats going on down there and quantify fish we are not catching. Agai
Stick with it yakman72 you will have the opportunity to do some cool stuff! Make sure you have some rich friends though hahaha. Forgot to mention there are idiots in every field of work from bus drivers to doctors.
Lots of MIGHTY bold statements made here. I worked for SCDNR for thirty one years, ending my career as a Wildlife Biologist II and I can tell you first hand there are an awful lot of dedicated people looking out for the resources of S.C. I had the great pleasure of working with people like Dr. Charles Wenner, Bill Roumillat, Glenn Ulrich, Mel Bell and many others who don’t have any other agenda other than the welfare of the resource. I stayed as long as I did because I truly loved the work, the last twenty years I worked on Artificial Reefs and I can tell you a few things about protected areas, but like Skinny J said that will have to wait. I saw many very talented people leave because the pay wasn’t what the majority of you would call a living wage and that always bugged the heck out of me. A few things that need to be said about the post above, and these are from my own personal observations. Snapper and grouper both will go in a chevron trap, the statement Mark Brown made, who I consider a friend and very smart man, who I rode the bus back from D.C. with, is totally out of line. There are good Marine Biologist and bad marine biologist, there are good boat captains and bad boat captains, good fish store owners and bad fish store owners,etc.,etc., etc. The way that many of you can make an impact is do as I have seen several of you do, attend the meeting, get yourself appointed to advisory board and let your voices be heard someplace other than a forum on the internet. Good fishing to you all and have a safe weekend. Skinny J, you know who I am, I loved the Choo-Choo picture!
Lots of MIGHTY bold statements made here. I worked for SCDNR for thirty one years, ending my career as a Wildlife Biologist II and I can tell you first hand there are an awful lot of dedicated people looking out for the resources of S.C. I had the great pleasure of working with people like Dr. Charles Wenner, Bill Roumillat, Glenn Ulrich, Mel Bell and many others who don’t have any other agenda other than the welfare of the resource. I stayed as long as I did because I truly loved the work, the last twenty years I worked on Artificial Reefs and I can tell you a few things about protected areas, but like Skinny J said that will have to wait. I saw many very talented people leave because the pay wasn’t what the majority of you would call a living wage and that always bugged the heck out of me. A few things that need to be said about the post above, and these are from my own personal observations. Snapper and grouper both will go in a chevron trap, the statement Mark Brown made, who I consider a friend and very smart man, who I rode the bus back from D.C. with, is totally out of line. There are good Marine Biologist and bad marine biologist, there are good boat captains and bad boat captains, good fish store owners and bad fish store owners,etc.,etc., etc. The way that many of you can make an impact is do as I have seen several of you do, attend the meeting, get yourself appointed to advisory board and let your voices be heard someplace other than a forum on the internet. Good fishing to you all and have a safe weekend. Skinny J, you know who I am, I loved the Choo-Choo picture!
TOTALLY AGREE!! Those that chose marine biology for a career don’t do it for the $$$$$. Give me the name of ONE Nobel laureate in the field of marine biology. THey do it because they are tr
Greetings Mr. Longbearded1: Since you hang out with Mark Brown I know you must be OK. As one who tries to follow the fishing debate I must say I am confused.I would love to hear the thoughts of an objective SC marine biologist on the state of the fishery.Would you (in laymans terms)do us the honor?