Washington Fly Fishing Forum banner

But is Saltwater related. Giant Pacific Octopus

NFR 
4K views 25 replies 11 participants last post by  porterHause 
#1 ·
A friend of mine from work is a diver who sent this to me today after we discussed the newspaper article about the young man that killed the GPO. I have seen some of his photographs and he mentioned this video by a woman that shows a GPO from this location. I thought it was an excellent video showing this wonderful sea life in our backyard. There is also a petition about protecting these animals at this location.


http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/giantpacificoctopus/
 
#2 ·
i have been following this story and while i think it was unwise of this person to harvest an octopus in such a public diving area, he did nothing illegal and the dive communities reaction to this has been one of the worst displays of internet bullying i have ever seen. check out this thread on the northwest dive club site:
http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19454

personally, i think the dive community is its own worst enemy. their overreaction to this legal harvest (and the illegal harassment of someone within their rights to harvest) should not result in this area being set aside as a reserve. i would have probably been in favor of setting this area aside before seeing the way divers behave and think about harvest. i have been on the side of marine reserves because i thought they could provide some protected habitat but i know realize that the dive community is militant about shutting down huge areas of our marine areas for their own private use. they are no different than militant animal rights activists, and i cannot believe how crazy they are.

this story showed how out of the mainstream the dive community is and we should not support any part of their agenda, including creating a dive park in cove 2.

chris
 
#4 ·
My only intent was to show a great video by a young lady with artistic skills.
I don't dive or swim. As for the website, I never get into political crap. To each his/her own opinions.
I hope the person that is proposing the change is going about it correctly, hopefully in a proper way to officials.
As for clarification, my friends photos are of underwater animals and sea life, and not any posted of the young man in question.

MODS can of course close or delete this posting as they see fit.
 
#5 ·
the video was nice, but you posted a link to the divers' petition to close this area based on the illegal harassment of a licensed harvester and an internet witch hunt. my point is that people should realize who is behind the petition and why one should think twice about signing a petition pushed by divers that illegally harass and threaten licensed harvesters. closing this area will only embolden their aggressive tactics and that would be a bad thing.

it is one thing to have a discussion about harvest, it is another to threaten, stalk, and harm someone you disagree with on legal harvest.
 
#9 ·
the video was nice, but you posted a link to the divers' petition to close this area based on the illegal harassment of a licensed harvester and an internet witch hunt. my point is that people should realize who is behind the petition and why one should think twice about signing a petition pushed by divers that illegally harass and threaten licensed harvesters. closing this area will only embolden their aggressive tactics and that would be a bad thing.

quote]

.
 
#6 ·
Then why didn't you just post the video and leave the petition link out? This driver is getting harassed for doing nothing illegal. Kind of the same way a few people here are harassed for legally harvesting a non-clipped Coho. I personally think the GPO should be protected, but as long as it is legal and all the laws are followed then he is within his rights and should not be harassed.
 
#10 ·
I disagree, the petition is to make an area a safe zone and would restrict the harvest of one species in that specific area, what is wrong with that, even if they did make it a sanctuary for all species it would only strengthen our fisheries as marine preserves often do.
 
#12 ·
i believe it is, the fact that the pictures sparked a flame under the public to create a sanctuary for the GPO is negligeble in the argument, if it needed to be discussed it needed to be discussed plain and simple. And how are you supposed to get a pic of an illegally harvested one when it isn't illegal. What they are trying to do here is give the GPO a little protection. They may have gotten a little heated, just as I would when seeing a legally harvested wild steelhead on the ONP.
 
#14 ·
It sparked more than a flame. The guy lost his job and his family received death threats over legally harvesting an octopus. He was staked on the internet to the point he obtained a lawer and is probably going to sue, as he should. Just a sampling of the stuff posted on that cite.

"Let him get fills...just fills with 10%...enough for him to not notice until he goes to visit the wizard...and the octopus can do as she will with him."

"This kid was a total punk. He threatened to come back and harvest another one tomorrow, so if anyone happens to be at Cove 2 in the near future, please be on the lookout for a red Ford Ranger and give him a piece of your mind."

"Can you enhance your pictures and see the VIP stickers on his tanks?"

"If you can verify that plate picture, I'll run his plate."

"So......... Anyone wanna dive C2 tomorrow to see if this <expletive deleted> is there?"

"I did a little digging and found the guy. I don't feel comfortable naming names here publicly for several reasons, but rest assured he is a shining example of a human being in every way. I will call around to the local dive shops and see if I can at the very least have them talk to the guy about not being a douchenugget,"

"Karma usually seems to find its way back to people. Other people seem to have a knack for facilitating that process."

"So I was able to find this guy in Facebook, and he has a picture of a speargun (among many other guns) and mentions that he uses it "off alki and edmonds underwater park. depends what im going after."
 
#16 ·
There are a couple preserves, and I dont disagree that Cove 2 should be a preserve, or a sanctuary for certain animals. It probably should be with the amount of use it gets. I just hate that none of the people using that area gave a shit about going through the motions of submitting the paperwork or petitioning the state until some kid came through and legally harvested an animal there. If the area is that special to those people they should have done it years ago.
 
#21 ·
"WDFW Director Phil Anderson said the department will consider new rules to preserve the population of giant Pacific octopuses at Seacrest Park near Alki Point, where a 19-year-old scuba diver provoked a public outcry after legally harvesting one of the charismatic animals last week."

"Charismatic"..................LOL. Interesting, yes. More intelligent than a clam or shrimp? Definitely. "Charismatic"........LOL. Assigning positive, desirable human attributes to a mollusk to gather support against hunting them?? Very politically motivated and often highly effective.

This issue really should have everyone's attention who enjoys saltwater fishing. I have had four separate incidents in the past 4 years where snorkelers and/or snorkel guides have tried to bully me away from fly fishing reefs that are open to sport fishing with hook and line. They will poke at fish, prod them while they hide in caves and under ledges, dig, step, stand and pollute the reef with sunscreen yet feel no hesitation in attempting to stop MY legal recreation because they feel it interferes with their own.
 
#22 ·
"Charismatic"..................LOL. Interesting, yes. More intelligent than a clam or shrimp? Definitely. "Charismatic"........LOL. Assigning positive, desirable human attributes to a mollusk to gather support against hunting them?? Very politically motivated and often highly effective.
a seattle octopus with an umbrella sipping a latte

 
#23 ·
Mingo, if that's true you should counterpoint the emo bullshit they are force feeding wdfw right now. other wise these fucks win out over common sense and legal procedure.

People, right now they've already have held private meetings with wdfw and are only going to open this to public discussion " after this election cycle". pretty much meaning the general public won't have a clue as to when this will be held until after the fact. here's a quote from the Olympian online;

OLYMPIA - The director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) today announced plans to explore regulatory options for banning the harvest of giant Pacific octopuses off a popular Seattle beach and possibly elsewhere in Puget Sound.

WDFW Director Phil Anderson said the department will consider new rules to preserve the population of giant Pacific octopuses at Seacrest Park near Alki Point, where a 19-year-old scuba diver provoked a public outcry after legally harvesting one of the charismatic animals last week.

Under current state rules, divers can harvest one giant Pacific octopus per day in most areas of Puget Sound.

"The harvesting of this animal has resulted in a strong, negative reaction from the public and the dive community," Anderson said. "We believe this area may merit additional restrictions to enhance the traditional uses of this popular beach."

Anderson announced the department's plans at the start of a two-day public meeting of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, a nine-member governing body that has final authority over most new fishing rules.

With nearly two-dozen scuba divers in attendance, Anderson outlined several possible options to preserve giant Pacific octopuses, ranging from designating Seacrest Park as a marine protected area to prohibiting hunting the animals anywhere in the state.

Anderson said WDFW will hold public meetings this winter to hear Washingtonians' thoughts on those options.

All of the divers who spoke on the issue at the commission meeting supported new regulations prohibiting the harvest of octopuses at Seacrest Park and other popular scuba diving areas.

Scott Lundy, a member of the Washington Scuba Alliance, presented the commission with a petition signed by 5,000 divers supporting a ban on killing octopuses at Seacrest Park.

Dylan Mayer, the 19-year-old diver from Seattle who started the controversy, also told the commission he supports a ban on killing octopuses at the park.

"I didn't know they were so beloved, or I wouldn't have done it," he said.

While many of the divers called for an immediate ban at Seacrest Park, Anderson said Washington law requires state agencies to follow an established public process for developing new regulations.

"If the conservation of a species or the public welfare is at stake, we can take emergency action," he said. "But the killing of the giant Pacific octopus last week appears to be an isolated case at Seacrest Park, and the species appears to be healthy throughout Puget Sound."

He added, however, that the department may still consider taking emergency action if another octopus is taken from the area.

I've watched this too. The youngster may or may not have displayed poor judgment in using that are for harvest. But it was the personal safety factor involved that led him to decide to harvest in the waters he is most familiar and safest in.

Before you ( diver sympatico membership) get ready to harass this guy further, you might want to go read this:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=77.15.210

And, if you think that GPO stocks are depleted based on diver reports, read these.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01384/2012-13_general_info.pdf

http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/refm/stocks/plan_team/resources/2008_Nov_BSAIPTminutes.pdf

http://depts.washington.edu/uwconf/2005psgb/2005proceedings/papers/P1_ANDER.pdf
 
#24 ·
Mingo, before this gets misconstrued, I am not aiming this at you. Am going back to edit it so the rest of the reading public understands it is meant for them. I understand where you are coming from and only direct the first sentence your way as a reply to the fine print in your post.
 
#25 ·
Assigning positive, desirable human attributes to a mollusk to gather support against hunting them?? Very politically motivated and often highly effective.
Indeed. But I have to hand it to the SCUBA folks though when it comes to getting their point to go viral. Perhaps we need describe the qualities of wild steelhead in more self-actualized terms, like the way a wild fish is so much more "spontaneous", "engaging" and "resourceful" compared to their hatchery cousins.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top