Sad, sad day today

[Morticia Mermaid]

.

[SeaGlass Siren]

i dont want to live on this planet anymore.

[Coradion]

It's an octopus, people kill them. I train them at the Waikiki Aquarium, and I also hunt them. People eat marine organisms, it's a huge industry. Hunting octopus as a sport is pretty common, just like all sport fishing. They are rather delicious, I go out and spearfish or hunt tako (octopus) whenever I get a chance. Going into a marine protected area of prohibited fishing zone is a different story, if you're going to be mad, be mad about that.

If you follow fishing rules and guidelines there shouldn't be a problem. A well managed fishery is one where you take below the anticipated maximum sustainable yield, report your catch accurately, and follow the rules and regulations. Octopi die in the ocean while guarding their eggs all the time and will often die before they even get a chance to hatch. It's happened to my octos at the aquarium before. If you think that one clutch of eggs will actually produce 100,000 adult animals one day, you should take a biology course. Unless you're captive breeding with high success rates the majority of those animals will die before reaching sexual maturity.

Some people are assholes, but if you want to direct any kind of energy into this specific incident you should research the fishing laws of the area. Do you know all of the local regulations? Get informed and educate others as a preventative measure for future incidences. Volunteer at an aquarium or in an outreach program. Start working on a project and breeding GPO's as a mariculture experiment. Raging at the internet about a guy who killed one octopus isn't going to help the ocean.

[Morticia Mermaid]

.

[Coradion]

Well, it only takes one person to kill a GPO to make it a platform for why it should be a MPA. If he hunted it in an approved zone, during season, used the right gear and it was the right size then what he did was legal. If people think it shouldn't be a legal action in the future then they should inform their legislators. I'm not defending the guy, but in this one case of him killing this specific GPO he may have the law on his side. He might be persecuted for other actions if there's proof.

Until you know what he did with the octopus you can't say he did or did not hunt it for meat. Drying octopus or putting it in a cement mixer is a common prep method. When I dry octopus it's put on a clothing hanger on a tree. I doubt he ate it, but I don't think this is a case where it's good to focus on what ifs.

Maybe someone from Mernetwork should right a letter to local legislators about why they think this action was wrong and how it would be beneficial to the species or tourism, etc to make part of the sound a MPA. If you can find scientific data that supports your claims maybe on Google Scholar or something it might have some weight. You can talk all day about how he's a scumbag or you can direct all that energy to making a difference . I hear politicians really like money, and if this hurts possible tourism to the area then maybe there would be some action. How many local dive shops rent gear or take people out to the sound? Maybe they have some financial resources they can throw behind an effort to make it a protected zone.

[Morticia Mermaid]

.

[Merrow Fair Isle]

people like this make me physically ill.

[Coradion]

I'd again like to make it clear, he didn't actually do anything wrong. To some people they found a moral issue with it, but the law is on his side. He shot an octopus in an approved fishing ground using legal equipment.

[Morticia Mermaid]

.

[The Young Mermaid]

Coradion:
I couldn't agree more with what you said.

Mermaid Lexia:
It is very different to shoot something in the wild than in a zoo. A zoo is owned by someone. This animal was not owned by anyone.

[Morticia Mermaid]

.

[Coradion]

Well, this is another big issue. Without human interaction the animals in the cove would have run. Without human intervention the octopus probably would've run or hid as well. Humans taming wild animals has directly and indirectly lead to their deaths in these cases. If you really are for ocean conservation you would probably lobby that it should be a Marine Protected Area where a strict distance between humans and animals was maintained. It only takes one person to exploit a trained animal as was proven by the death of this GPO. There will always be one person who will do this, if the animals behave naturally their chances of surviving a human encounter are much greater. A lot of the time the best policy is hands off, observe and enjoy them from a respectful difference. Personally I think watching a wild animal is a lot more fun than a tame one. Encountering wild orcas as opposed to a Seaworld orca is a completely different experience. People playing with these octopi is eliminating the fear they SHOULD have at seeing us. What matters more, that you be able to play with a tame octopus or that the animal has the best chance possible at surviving and completing its life cycle?

[Morticia Mermaid]

.

[Coradion]

I'm not twisting what you're saying... At no point have I quoted you. I'm just pointing out that there's a lot to consider and if you're going to take this incident to heart there are a lot more angles.

[Ayla of Duluth]

lemme just jump in and say something.
I don't think what he did was the equivalent of going to a petting zoo and killing one of the animals. It has been stated in many articles that what he did was technically legal, but shooting an animal at the petting zoo is not legal at all.
I agree with Coradion in this argument.

[Coradion]

I want to make it clear I don't want this to be an argument, I just want to bring up that there are a lot of ways to look at this incident and before you take a stance or take it to heart think about all of them.

[Morticia Mermaid]

.

[Ashe]

I hope you do stay Lexia! I would hate to see another mer leave because of some miscommunications and opinions. And you're not a liar! I have read over this thread multiple times and I too, take a neutral standing at this point. Both of you are right in a sense! There are ethics to this, things that are technically legal, and things that just aren't right. I don't really want to get into this, but maybe letting the thread die down a bit could help? And I mean the thread, not the issue here. I see reason with both of what you and Coradion say, but I think you should totally go for doing all you can to help the Giant Octopuses! I may be young, but I'm right up there with you
~Kalani >O"

[Coradion]

I don't know which people you're talking about. I have made no accusations and that you can find an accusation in what I've written may be why you feel attacked. I have not called you a liar, I am not mad or angry about anything. What I've been trying to do is offer different viewpoints based on my personal experiences in the field. I work at an Aquarium which focuses on marine life conservation.

If you feel as though you're being treated like you don't know what you're talking about you might be reading into it too much. You said earlier that you felt your words were being twisted, I'm not doing that. If you add a to the end of my sentences that I've written it'd be more indicative of my actual tone. Discussion is about a topic, arguments are what get personal. I said I am not having an argument. I have no personal problem with anyone on this site, if you decide leaving is what's best for you then do what will ultimately make you happy. Please do go back and reread what I've written and just add a to the end of everything.

If this topic continues to stray from pertaining to the original post however I will remove myself from this thread as I don't wish to involve myself in interpersonal disagreements.

[Merrow Fair Isle]

Let's just hug it out.