On Friday, June 29, 2001 12:42 PM, Mike Wallace wrote:


> With the talk of the whale problem on the east coast I'm curious if
> ya'll regular ocean type divers have ever run across other critters
> that were obviously injured by man made means. IE, hooked, netted
> or other such injuries?

> You spearfisherman can exclude any critters that you have
> personally poked holes in.... :-)

G'Day, Mike!  Viv and Poe have already mentioned "Bladerunner" - the
humpback  that's been badly lacerated by the prop of a boat - and that's now
moving slowly up the coast, but a lot of other incidents spring to mind.

A cat shark that had taken a line bait and then - either because the
fisherman cut the line or the fish's struggles broke it - got caught up in
the trailing line beneath a rock ledge and had to be cut free.

A female grouper with a stainless steel hook through her lower jaw that we
tried to catch in order to remove it - but without success.  ( I've seen
numerous fish with stainless steel hooks protruding from their mouths and
cheeks

Large Eastern Blue Groupers - a protected species - with a variety of wounds
from spears.

Ladder-Finned Pomfrets, hardly large enough to provide more than a mouthful,
with horrific spear-induced wounds that marked them for a short-life.

While diving in Little Bay, on Sydney's south side, I once discovered the
bodies of four or five wobbegongs with their severed heads lying nearby!

The body of a turtle that we'd occassionally seen at Shelly Beach washed up
on Manly Beach after the creature had become entangled in the shark net and
drowned.

Fish caught by kids in small hand nets and - there being no further interest
in the critters - left to die in the sun on the beach above the water-line.

And then there's been the by-product death by cyanide fishing and bombing.

All-in-all, a pretty damning indictment of how little regard we show towards
marine life.

Strike