Do you eat seafood?

[Jonathan Bird]

I think this might be an interesting poll...to see how underwater photographers view sea creatures....friends, or food?

Jonathan

[Clay Coleman]

I initially learned to dive in 1973 for two reasons:
1. I really like to eat fish.
2. I'm a total klutz with a rod and reel.

Since then I've learned to appreciate the wonder, beauty, and diversity of the piscine world, and I work to protect the ocean environment from excessive exploitation.

But I still really like to eat fish. -Clay

[sorvju-f]

I think this might be an interesting poll...to see how underwater photographers view sea creatures....friends, or food?

Jonathan

We have been built like have to eat and everything we eat can be made pictures also.

[tarczy]

Yeah . . . just face it Jonathan . . . you're on the wrong side of this one!! :D

I like cows alot. I think they're dumb, cute animals (no correlation to my recent dates), but I still like to eat beef. Same thing with pigs.

:D :D :D

[Jonathan Bird]

Yeah . . . just face it Jonathan . . . you're on the wrong side of this one!! :D

Fish are friends, not food!

I do not object to the consumption of fish on the basis of it being cruel or being bad to animals or some such nonsense. I object on the basis that 99% of the fishing on planet Earth is done unsustainably. Fishing is nothing more than hunting and gathering, the way primitive cave people dealt with the issue of feeding themselves. It cannot be done with the technology and effectiveness that it is now, nevermind at an ever-increasing rate to meet the demands of an expanding world population. I am amazed when lovers of the underwater world do not seem to care about this. I shake my head in disbelief when I see divers at a dive resort order the local fish at dinnertime, then complain about the lack of marine life on the dive boat the next day.

My personal favorite are people who accuse underwater photographers of harassing the marine life, then going back to the hotel for some snapper for lunch. Is killing and eating the marine life considered "harassment"?

"Don't make the puffer inflate, you inconsiderate photographer! You are stressing it out for a picture! Oh, yes, waiter, I would like the grouper for dinner with shrimp."

Then there is the issue of heavy metals and toxins in fish as a result of using the ocean as a dumping ground and food source at the same time.

Nah, I'll stock to mad cow disease I think.

Jonathan

[Debbie B]

I've never been a big fan of seafood, even before I got into diving, mainly just because I'd never developed a taste for it. Now that I am a diver, anytime someone asks me if I like seafood my response is, "no, I'd rather swim with them than eat them." :)

[Pizzaman]

Oh man, i just got back from Marco Island and all i had was Seafood.

Calamari, Grouper, Crab legs (yummy) Salmon (oh that was really yummy) Smelts, and some other fish which i have no idea what's it called.:p

Now that i'm back home it's back to Pizza and Steak.:)

[solisti]

I like seafood a lot. Especially Indian seafood. And I fish too, also snorkeling with a spear (not with a spear gun, just a spear) which is a lot of fun...

[Neptune7]

People who know me on this board know that I like fish very much; in the water or in my plate. Contrary to Clay, I am rather efficient with a rod and reel. So efficient that I have earned the very "cute" nickname Darth Fishkill!
I used to hunt and fish a lot more than today. But I tend to agree with Jonathan. (sorry Tarczy!) Yes I am getting worried about the future of fish. The way the world is fishing today is totally unsustainable. It actually has a direct effect on my fish consumption: no more marlin, grouper or sailfish. Less shrimps too because they are fed with smaller fishes that human don't eat, turned into pellets to feed the arthropods.... Less small fishes equal less big fishes.

But on our next Tiger shark trip in Bahamas, I will certainly catch a few yellowtails and remoras for the chum bucket. ;-)

Pierre "Darth Fishkill" Seguin

[tarczy]

I believe it was on the last Bahamas/Tiger Shark trip that you engendered the moniker "Darth FishKill!!!"

Better yet . . . as I remember correctly . . . we dubbed you "Darth FishKill" right after you snared the Frigate Bird - out of mid-air - with nothing but your fishing pole and a piece of fishkill.

Simply amazing!!!

Can't wait to see what antics you dream up on this week's Bahamas/Tiger Shark trip!! :eek:

Mark

P.S. Stay tuned!! Incriminating pics to follow . . . but only four at a time 'cuz . . . . well . . . whatever!!!!

[Jonathan Bird]

Please remember that catching fish to feed to the sharks is putting fish back into the oceanic food chain, nothing wrong with that. Sharks gotta eat too. The fish that we feed them saves the lives of other fish that they won't eat because they are too full.

I also have no problem with a person taking a rod and reel out to catch his own dinner. That is not commercial fishing. If everyone only ate what they could catch with a rod and reel, the oceans would not be in trouble.

I do not believe that you can in good conscience be an ocean lover and eat commercially-fished seafood, especially the biggies that are in trouble, like swordfish, shark, etc. And you can't blame the fishermen. If people are providing a market for their product, you can't really blame them for filling it: supply and demand. The answer is that people have to start caring more about the oceans than they care about the taste of shrimp or tuna. If you can't "just say no" to seafood, you can't expect anyone else to.

When someone proclaims to be an ocean lover or an environmentalist, the first question I ask is "do you eat seafood?" and the answer speaks volumes. When someone gives me some crap for "harassing" a pufferfish or chumming for sharks (my god, it changes their behavior! OH NO!) then my question to them is "Do you eat seafood?" If the answer is yes, then my response is "Then shut the hell up!"

:rolleyes:

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Oh and I forgot my favorite one:

"I'm a vegetarian....but I eat fish."

I love that line. Yeah, fish are swimming vegetables. I spent half an hour arguing with someone this week because they felt that fish are not "meat."

WTF?

[Pizzaman]

I just got a case of smelts and are they going to be tasty with a little lemmon.:)

[Jonathan Bird]

You're a bad man! Bad! Bad! Bad!!

[sirkia]

Hi,

I don't eat seafood and my opinion is that fish are friend, not food.
But I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian and I don't eat any meat or seafood.

This is my first post here, I was informed about this forum by Sorfju-f.
I readed some discussions and this forum looks very interesting.

// Stefu

[Ice-b]

I eat seafood, but quite a little. Mostly shrimp or crab, not fish.

Thanx to Sorfju-f for recommending this site !

[David White]

Having been born on the island of Jersey I was practically weaned on seafood. I don't think I have ever met a crustacean that I didn't like...the taste of. And the bivalve mollusks...uhmm, uhmm, yum! Fish, I can take it or leave it, not particularly fussy either way, so you can leave those for the photographers.