72 replies to this topic

[Drew]

That will be confusing for the people who come on the forums and say "I don't want anything manipulated" and then harass everything when they are down there. I am getting fed up with hearing of the number of people who say one thing publicly and then behave completely differently.

So soon will be lots of people posting on Wetpixel asking "Can you tell me the resorts that manipulate creatures> So, errrm, I know which ones to avoid!"

Alex

Hey, sanctimonious remarks are da best! How else could those who got caught with their proverbial fingers (or whatever creatures) in the jar, be able to perpetuate the age old parental adage: 'Do as I say and not as I do!'

Actually I'd love to see the operators publicly denounce manipulation of critters in their advertising: 'No one prods anything at this resort!' or 'No touchy touchy at our resort!' Conversely, it'd be cool if they advertised their open policy: 'Pick up, flip and prod to your heart's content at our resort!' or 'We are all about touching the critters here!'

[John Bantin]

I love Wetpixel. You can't witness discussions like this on other diving forums! Come on Alex, tell us how you got those five pigmy seahorses to pirouette through space. Did you shake them up in a jam jar first? Don't try to kid me it's a computer job!

[DeanB]

I feel really bad about lifting an old piece of corrugated tin to see grass snakes now ...

Dive safe

DeanB

[John Bantin]

I had an assistant that had a pet spiny puffer in an aquarium, which he handled and puffed up every day. When it got too big for his aquarium, we took it to London Zoo. A week later we went to visit it. It was in the quarantine tanks. I spotted it but when it saw him, it recognised him, went crazy at the glass and puffed itself up. Tell, me that it was harming itself!

Edited by John Bantin, 10 April 2013 - 08:43 AM.

[E_viking]

Was that the fish version of Pavlov's dogs :-)

Edited by E_viking, 10 April 2013 - 09:58 AM.

[John Bantin]

Was that the fish version of Pavlov's dogs :-)

Probably correct - but it lived a long life! Like the Napolean wrasses at Ras Mohammed that, when they died, people said they got cancer from the food divers had been giving them. When I researched an article about it, David Frape, the distinguished animal nutritionist, pointed out that they had lived much longer than normal because they were so well-fed and they got cancer because that's what happens when you get very old.

It's never as simple as we think and we should not ascribe human characteristics and feelings to other species of animal!

[E_viking]

That is definately true that the longer you live, the higher the likelihood to get cancer.

The question is what is harrassment and how to define it!

[Harengus]

Ok, a really good discussion, it was really interesting to read it. Some kind of harassment that was not so much discussed here is the harassment of larger animals (Mantas, Dugongs, Dolphins etc.) on their feeding, nursery, cleaning sites. Often dive shops offer trips to special areas where you have a good chance to see these large animals. However, many of these areas don´t have a good management in place and too many divers scare the animals away. There are many examples where special spots are prerequisite for a local population and they can be in big trouble when too many divers (and UW-photographers) want to see them. I was really shocked when I saw the Dugong diving industry in Egypt. There are only a handful of individuals left and they are heavily stalked on most of there foraging places. And the UW photographers even increase the pressure because they advertise these places. I saw so many diving journals with dugong images from Egypt. You rarely see other divers in these images, but the real situation looks much different : www.wwf.de/blog/oekotourismus-oder-oekoterrorismus/

[Glasseye Snapper]

Last month I attended a presentation by the Hurghada environmental protection and conservation association (HEPCA) while diving at Wadi Lahami. They made a lot of progress with dolphin tourism, dive boat mooring systems and waste disposal in coastal resorts and towns. I brought up the point of dugongs and they recognize the problem of their disturbance but unfortunately no regulations are in place at this moment.

 

Bart

[tdpriest]

This thread is truly depressing, for existing at all. I hope that, by the time that I picked up a proper camera, I had learned to look and not touch.

 

The excuse (and it is an excuse) that one kind of harm is less serious than another doesn't wash.

 

Perhaps it's as well that I'm no longer in the game...

[TimG]

Cheer up, Tim, another few centuries and the world will likely have blown up anyway. Or overheated. Or frozen. Or have been taken over by Apple (hmm, maybe not such a bad thing). We're all just passing through. Like the dinosaurs. 

[tdpriest]

We're all just passing through. Like the dinosaurs. 

 

I know. I am a dinosaur...

 

... and pining, a little, for my Poseidons as I drive around in my hairdresser's/sports Audi TT Mk III that was my consolation prize for giving up the bubbles.

[TimG]

 

I know. I am a dinosaur...

 

... and pining, a little, for my Poseidons as I drive around in my hairdresser's/sports Audi TT Mk III that was my consolation prize for giving up the bubbles.

 

 

Wow, that's some consolation prize! Good for you. Get the wind in your hair - rather than the salt.