[Coral-List] divers and coral reefs
Eugene Shinn
eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu
Wed May 31 19:04:14 UTC 2023
I have always appreciated Alina's frankness even when we disagreed. She
is not one of those silly overly emotional environmentalists who know
little about the science surrounding coral reefs but nevertheless often
clutter up the coral list. I can not prove it but I disagree with
Alina's analysis of the Hog Fish/Diadema situation. I disagree mainly
because I was diving and spear-fishing in the Florida Keys long before
she came on the scene. In the 1950s I knew every spear-fisherman in the
Keys and Miami area. We all sold our fish to the same markets and
restaurants. We also competed against each other in the numerous
spearfishing contests back when the sport was just catching on. The
contests were, believe it or not, sponsored by the Amateur Athletic
Union which is over 100 years old and still exists today. (google it) I
will admit we were not supposed to sell our fish, but we all did. I can
say with certainty few of us fished the middle keys because the Hog Fish
there were less in number and smaller in size. They had not been speared
out. The conditions they favor, such as abundant Sea Grass, was lacking
there then as is the situation today. I can only attest to those fish
not having the purple spots around their mouth made by Diadema.
I also find the number of divers being blamed for reef decline on
the coral-list interesting. Many moons ago I wrote (I believe it was a
letter to the editor) that it was the Sanctuary that was attracting all
the sport divers to the Florida Keys. Those old enough will remember the
giant billboard on the right hand side of US 1 just south of Homestead.
It featured the underwater Christ statue. I wish I had a dollar for all
the times a boat would come over to my boat and ask, "Where is that
Christ statue?" I knew many of the rangers...they had all had the same
experience. That statue put the Sanctuary (remember it is under the dept
of Commerce) in a peculiar situation. Remember that in the US we still
have separation of Church and State. That religious statue was not
supposed to be on Federal Property. It is there because it was placed at
Key Largo Dry Rocks before the Sanctuary existed. I knew most of the
divers that put it there. The ashes of at least two of those divers are
also there. Today the Feds just ignore it and prohibit anyone from
cleaning off all the fire coral and other grunge growing on it.
Nevertheless on any good day there will be half a dozen commercial dive
boats anchored around it. Getting old is not much fun but the benefit of
watching how people and ideas have changed almost makes up for it. Gene
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