Nowornever, are you talking about parrotfish or tuskfish? I presume that you are talking about tuskfish (Labridae) rather than parrotfish (Scaridae). Parrotfish are rarely taken by anglers as they feed mainly on algae by scraping it off dead coral with their beak-like teeth. Tuskfish on the other hand possess conical-like canines that resemble tusks and use these to feed on a variety of organisms, mainly crustaceans. They are occasionally taken by anglers, particularly those that target them and are a prime target species for spearfishers.
Some points to consider:
·Spearfishers are entitled to their bag limit of any species just as linefishers are entitled to their bag limit (most fishers, including the users of this forum, would happily take their bag limit of snapper on any given outing).
·Spearfishing is difficult.
·There are fewer days that are available for spearfishing compared with line fishing due to factors such as adequate visability and current.
·Spearfishers are limited by depth.
·Spearfishers face greater dangers compared with line fishers e.g. predators.
·Spearfishing is a discriminate method, line fishing is not.
·Spearfishing enables the targeting of species seldom caught on line e.g. parrotfish, and increases the difficulty (compared with line fishing) of catching other species e.g. snapper.
·Any person can linefish, far fewer are able to spearfish (successfully) due to reasons such as health and fitness levels, skill and fear, therefore there are far less spearfishers than line fishers.
·Spearfishing allows those who undertake it to appreciate the underwater environment.
·Spearing 5 x 10kg tuskies in the Bay in a single day would be as rare as rocking horse droppings.
·Spearing a tusky in the Bay that has fishing line and hooks in its mouth is not uncommon as they are notorious for bricking unsuspecting linefishers.
Cheers,
JSY