capt_trev
09-01-2006, 12:46 AM
Hi everyone,
I'm Trevor, skipper of Brisbane dive boat Esperance Star.
Recently I had an Ausfish member on board who told me of the friction occasionally expressed on Ausfish by members frustrated by some "at sea" interactions with dive boats on some of the popular sites around Brisbane [and elsewhere]. I thought I would visit the sight, check out some of the greivances and perhaps respond in a constructive manner. Well at the risk of getting shot down in flames, here goes.
First let me say that I can honestly see the issues from both sides. Prior to buying and operating Esperance Star I was a professional fisherman and have aways been and still am an active recreational fisherman. I catch fish recreationally on almost every trip on ES, usually to bolster the menu on board with a little fresh seafood [I find very little resistance to this amongst divers, there are way fewer 'greeny' divers than you might imagine]. Let me also state from the onset that no matter what walk of life you may hail from, there will ALWAYS be the ###### element involved. There are as many ###### divers and dive boat operators as there are ###### fisherman [thats life]
On MANY occasions I have been abused by fishermen for 'bargeing in' on sites, and have on MANY occasions had fishermen arrive and drop there anchors so close to me that i cannot even see them under my bow whilst standing at the wheel of ES [again , thats life!].
So here is my take on a few things......
1] As far as Im concerned, its a free ocean. If I'm parked somewhere feel free to anchor right beside me, but please be observant, check for bubbles right under you, approach slowly and remember that we are probably only there for an hour so if you anchor directly in front of us you will be over my anchor, making it difficult or impossible for us to retreive it without virtually running you over. Conversely, if I have steamed for an hour and a half just to dive, say, the St Paul, with divers having been briefed at length and having spent ages preparing their gear for the dive we are fairly keen to do it and WILL try to get on the wreck [or site] if its possible to do so safely. Diving a site like the St Paul requires that divers be extremely competant and a lot of preperation MUST go into diving a site that deep. Once we've decided on doing the site its a major drama to re-evaluate and go somewhere else [the same applies for any site in the 40 metre range]
2] I've seen on Ausfish that some fishermen have been told to 'piss off' by dive boats arriving at sites. My advise is to politely ignore them [Throwing sinkers or abuse wont acheive shit]. Dive boats have no right to do this and throwing up a dive flag doesnt give them any further rights. Dont be bullied by a dive flag, but dont be a bully.
3] If you see a dive flag up on a boat for christ sake dont scream by at 30 knots within 10 metres of the boat. Divers regularly have problems on the bottom and routinely surface rapidly nearby, chopping one up with a prop will ruin everyones day [especially the divers]
4] At Curtin Reef, divers will often move around well away from the boat. If they end up under you, remember that its probably only a few minutes before they move on. Often we have courses being run on board that require divers to visit a particular wreck [for wreck penetration exercises] or go out to a particular depth [for deep diving exercises]. These dives are generally short, less than half an hour [from leaving the boat to being back on board], so the divers wont hang around long.
5] To the north of Curtin there is a great wall dive that we call 'the pines'. We do this as a drift dive, which means that the divers get in at one point and drift along the wall and are picked up down current [Sometimes we do this at Curtin Reef as well]. Plenty of fish are there between the tides, if divers are under your boat there its only for a minute at the most, and the fact that the dive boat is hundreds of metres away from the divers is no big deal, we havent 'lost them'.
6]There is a common MISCONCEPTION that divers scare fish away. This is just not true. If the fish are biting, they are biting. I cant remember how many times I've actually witnessed fish being hooked right in front of me whilst I've been right there watching, underwater!
In short there is no reason why we all cant exist out there without misunderstanding and abuse. If dive boats bully you around, ignore them, they are wankers. If anyone wants to discuss any matters whatsoever about dive boats and why they do what they do, feel free to email me at ...trev@#############.com.au
On our website we have plenty of wreck GPS marks in the 'dive sites' section that are availalble to everyone. The datum is WGS 84 and the marks are deadly accurate.
I hope that this post is received in the manner with which it is intended, for the good of both dive boats and fishing boats
I'm Trevor, skipper of Brisbane dive boat Esperance Star.
Recently I had an Ausfish member on board who told me of the friction occasionally expressed on Ausfish by members frustrated by some "at sea" interactions with dive boats on some of the popular sites around Brisbane [and elsewhere]. I thought I would visit the sight, check out some of the greivances and perhaps respond in a constructive manner. Well at the risk of getting shot down in flames, here goes.
First let me say that I can honestly see the issues from both sides. Prior to buying and operating Esperance Star I was a professional fisherman and have aways been and still am an active recreational fisherman. I catch fish recreationally on almost every trip on ES, usually to bolster the menu on board with a little fresh seafood [I find very little resistance to this amongst divers, there are way fewer 'greeny' divers than you might imagine]. Let me also state from the onset that no matter what walk of life you may hail from, there will ALWAYS be the ###### element involved. There are as many ###### divers and dive boat operators as there are ###### fisherman [thats life]
On MANY occasions I have been abused by fishermen for 'bargeing in' on sites, and have on MANY occasions had fishermen arrive and drop there anchors so close to me that i cannot even see them under my bow whilst standing at the wheel of ES [again , thats life!].
So here is my take on a few things......
1] As far as Im concerned, its a free ocean. If I'm parked somewhere feel free to anchor right beside me, but please be observant, check for bubbles right under you, approach slowly and remember that we are probably only there for an hour so if you anchor directly in front of us you will be over my anchor, making it difficult or impossible for us to retreive it without virtually running you over. Conversely, if I have steamed for an hour and a half just to dive, say, the St Paul, with divers having been briefed at length and having spent ages preparing their gear for the dive we are fairly keen to do it and WILL try to get on the wreck [or site] if its possible to do so safely. Diving a site like the St Paul requires that divers be extremely competant and a lot of preperation MUST go into diving a site that deep. Once we've decided on doing the site its a major drama to re-evaluate and go somewhere else [the same applies for any site in the 40 metre range]
2] I've seen on Ausfish that some fishermen have been told to 'piss off' by dive boats arriving at sites. My advise is to politely ignore them [Throwing sinkers or abuse wont acheive shit]. Dive boats have no right to do this and throwing up a dive flag doesnt give them any further rights. Dont be bullied by a dive flag, but dont be a bully.
3] If you see a dive flag up on a boat for christ sake dont scream by at 30 knots within 10 metres of the boat. Divers regularly have problems on the bottom and routinely surface rapidly nearby, chopping one up with a prop will ruin everyones day [especially the divers]
4] At Curtin Reef, divers will often move around well away from the boat. If they end up under you, remember that its probably only a few minutes before they move on. Often we have courses being run on board that require divers to visit a particular wreck [for wreck penetration exercises] or go out to a particular depth [for deep diving exercises]. These dives are generally short, less than half an hour [from leaving the boat to being back on board], so the divers wont hang around long.
5] To the north of Curtin there is a great wall dive that we call 'the pines'. We do this as a drift dive, which means that the divers get in at one point and drift along the wall and are picked up down current [Sometimes we do this at Curtin Reef as well]. Plenty of fish are there between the tides, if divers are under your boat there its only for a minute at the most, and the fact that the dive boat is hundreds of metres away from the divers is no big deal, we havent 'lost them'.
6]There is a common MISCONCEPTION that divers scare fish away. This is just not true. If the fish are biting, they are biting. I cant remember how many times I've actually witnessed fish being hooked right in front of me whilst I've been right there watching, underwater!
In short there is no reason why we all cant exist out there without misunderstanding and abuse. If dive boats bully you around, ignore them, they are wankers. If anyone wants to discuss any matters whatsoever about dive boats and why they do what they do, feel free to email me at ...trev@#############.com.au
On our website we have plenty of wreck GPS marks in the 'dive sites' section that are availalble to everyone. The datum is WGS 84 and the marks are deadly accurate.
I hope that this post is received in the manner with which it is intended, for the good of both dive boats and fishing boats