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That’s great your shop took that stance, I hope word gets around to any shop he would purchase from and all do the same!!!
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First of all, these guys should not be referred to as "gentlemen". (I can think of many more. None of which I will write here)
All we can do is hope karma takes it’s course. There are hungry great whites in that past of the world, right?
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I just read that article today, bummer. Very unfortunate. Glad the diving community is shunning them.
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I read an article just now about it, he says he havests one or two a year for meat just not from that area hopefully the petitions get noticed and they can either protect the species or protect certain areas at least then wouldnt have that sort of issue but aparently the boy who is just 19 is having to hear about people wanting to tie weights to his feet. I imagine that he has learned from this and wont be pulling octipus from that area again
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Yeah, I read an article say that if he had to do it again he’d do it differently...by going at a different time or a different place. Not that he wouldn’t do it again.
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Sad event... sadder that it is not illegal to take such an amazing and intelligent creature, and yet even sadder that the diving community is also behaving badly with threats and derogatory comments.
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So, it’s NOT illegal? Are they endangered? Is this like PETA not "LIKING" deer hunting?
And please don’t bore me with flame throwing, I am simply trying to understand the issue at hand, so as to come to an informed opinion.
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From John_giu: So, it’s NOT illegal? Are they endangered? Is this like PETA not "LIKING" deer hunting?And please don’t bore me with flame throwing, I am simply trying to understand the issue at hand, so as to come to an informed opinion. ...
No it wasn’t illegal just bad form! Does there need to be a law against something to make it wrong?
It’s a spot where divers go to observe GPO’s, like the grouper who always meets you at your favorite dive site, it’s like the deer in my neigborhood that mow the lawn who don’t even leave when you come outside, they are more pets than wildlife. Okay my wife wishes the bobcat would leave!
You wouldn’t go to a shark feeding site to hunt sharks, some dives sites in Florida to hunt grouper or some spots in the NW to hunt GPO"s. Besides he wasn’t "hunting", everyone knew where that GPO nested and if you had seen his Facebook page before he took the pictures down it was about killing, not hunting for food.
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ks54 - 11/06/2012 1:45 PM 
Glad to hear.. This is clearly an issue where the battle is between legality and morality. You can count me on the morality side of the fight. Latitude words it very well.
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I think the people who make a pet out of wild animals are equally responsible for the death of that aminal, animals dont have morals, if you take away an animals fear of humans it is very vulnerable to attack.
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zen - 11/07/2012 6:23 PM
I am saddened and sickened by this and other similar incidents where divers are so callous and irresponsible. I’m pleased to hear so much condemnation from this dive community. It’s encouraging.
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From mac1954: I think the people who make a pet out of wild animals are equally responsible for the death of that aminal, animals dont have morals, if you take away an animals fear of humans it is very vulnerable to attack....
They might be wild animals but they are not dumb. I’ve had fish swim next to me because they know the camera won’t hurt them but that diver 20’ away with the spear would. The deer in my yard know it’s a Safety Zone, they are not going to run accross the street to the hunters. The deer that jumped my fence during hunting season knew they were safe in with the horses. When I was at Ft. Bragg the deer would move onto base the first day of hunting season, they knew the difference between a hunter with a rifle and a soldier with an M-16
Same with us, if you are walking thru NYC at night and you have 6 guys dressed in black with long hair coming toward you your heart skips a beat.
Same situation in Lakewood NJ and you relax because I don’t think anyone has ever been mugged by 6 Hasidic Jews!
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did i say wild animals are dumb, i never used the word dumb, i said wild animals do not have morals they survive on there instinct to stay a safe distance from preditors, this is there flight distance, interaction with humans reduces there flight distance making them vulnerable to attack from humans. the reason the deer jumped your fence to escape hunters is they had no where else to go.
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I said they were not dumb. Once when I didn’t have my camera with me I saw the perfect shot, hunters on one side of the road, on the other wild turkeys sitting on a split rail fence, tied to the fence was a sign; "We believe in Christmas!"
The GPO that was killed was in an area that divers went to to view GPO’s, there had even been a documentry shot of her so she didn’t fear divers plus some reports say she was on eggs so she wouldn’t have left the nest.
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The point i am trying to make is that the giant pacific octopus as a species has nothing to fear from a 19 year old lad with a speargun, if that young man lived to be a hundred he would not kill a fraction of the kill count of the octopus in its short 5 years, the GPO, does not need protecting by people, but the young man does need protecting, since he has been summarily tried convicted and sentenced, by the media. also the GPO was there to feed no other reason.
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I have to ask this; if the GPO had nothing to fear from a kid with a speargun - why is it dead? I think after reading all this and the articles on line, the point here is that in this instance this particular GPO had become somewhat of a local celebrity. Its desensitized attitude was the result of countless interactions with people that resulted in no harm. Many animals are that way - they learn that in certain conditions people are harmless and in others they are not. We can ask ourselves; by domesticating them to some degree are we helping or hurting them? Especially when they are in places where they can be considered a target of legitimate hunt. This GPO was apparently in one of those harmless conditions and the young man killed it. Nothing illegal, nor immoral, just very poor judgement. If, as some indicated, another GPO will come fill its place then the other less domesticated GPO should have been sought out and taken. It would be like me going to Latitude’s barnyard and killing a deer. it would be a sitting duck and there is no sportsmanship in that. It is VERY wrong however, to be sending death threats to this young man for poor judgement. Shop owners can do what they want with their business but we look like radicals in instances where we react in such a manner, making threats. The kid realizes (I hope) by now that he screwed up . Will killing him in effigy make this situation any better. Imagine how this reads in other places and how we are portraying ourselves. It ain’t too pretty. We have to remember there are many reasons to dive. Enjoyment of the dive and the natural world we visit is primary. At least in my book. Then there is the photographers who spend countless hours finding the perfect shot and lighting. Acceptable and fun. And spearfishing is another one. I don’t spear hunt but I have friends that do. I am out of the water when they are in and I don’t complain. It is a legitimate and legal sport. Emotions cause us to do many things and when we get emotional we don’t think as clearly as we need to. Let’s not blow this one out of proportion too far. The kid used poor judgement that’s all. If we think about it maybe you need to get an area set aside as no hunting to view wildlife only. Mind you if you don’t put a fence the animals can leave the safe zone and be shot but it may be one way to make both sies of this debate happy. safe Diving
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it is unfortunate that people, who had come used to visiting this particular GPO, had to see it killed like that, but wild animals kill and are killed, its natural. if a sperm whale came along and ate it there would be no fuss and rightly so. instead of condemning and threatening the young man, he should be advised and educated about making proper decisions and restraining his natural instinct to kill. THINK before you pull the trigger. anyway i hope neither him or others are put off diving over this.
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WDFW considers ban on hunting
octopuses off Seattle beach
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.
In other business, the commission heard public comments on management options proposed by representatives from Washington and Oregon to restructure salmon and sturgeon fisheries on the lower Columbia River.
Since early September, the two states have been working to develop a joint plan for phasing out the use of gillnets by non-tribal fishers in the mainstem lower Columbia River by 2016, as initially proposed by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber.
Members of a bi-state working group are scheduled to reach agreement later this month on a final plan for consideration by both states’ fish and wildlife commissions. Additional information is available on WDFW’s website at http://goo.gl/MCG5q.
On Friday (Nov. 9), the Washington commission will hold a public hearing on proposed new options for allocating the catch of spot shrimp between recreational and commercial fisheries. It will also hear public comments on proposed changes in state rules for compensating ranchers and other landowners who lose livestock to predatory carnivores.
The commission is scheduled to take action on both issues in a meeting set for Dec. 14-15. An agenda this month’s meeting is available on the commission’s website at http://goo.gl/HtqhI.
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