WDFW considers ban on hunting octopuses off Seattle beach

[KFhunter]

This is what happens when emotion trumps scientific models for sustainable harvest of resources. The people on this site who pushed the "bad ethics" of this harvest have jeopardized our hunting/fishingprivileges elsewhere. This is a bad thing. Now, every time someone has an emotional attachment to legal game, there is the chance that our privileges to pursue it will be revoked.

 

exactly - no science - purely emotion


Much like the Wolves

[Bob33]

I wish we could get a 5,000 hunter petition about the wolf problem, and favorable media coverage...

[pianoman9701]

Well, Bob, we could get half of your wish, the 5K signatures. Media? Ha! Methow Valley News, maybe. Good local paper by the way.

[Bob33]

Do you really think hunters could get a 5,000 signature petition together? I'm not asking flippantly. Has it ever been done?  It's quite amazing that divers and others were able to gather that many signatures that quickly.

[pianoman9701]

Yes, depending on the issue, I do. It would take coordination and some media exposure, but i think with the right issue we could do far more than that.

[Bob33]

Without being too cynical, I wonder why it's never been tried or successfully done?

I remember a few years back when the new permit system went into effect.  Several people wrote to WDFW opposing the action. As I recall, the number was in the 100's (less than 200.)  When Ranker was up for appointment to the Fish and Wildlife Commission, a few hundred opposed it. Those numbers are too small to get their attention when groups like divers can get 5,000 signtures in a week.

[h20hunter]

I am surprised there were not more gathered.

[halflife65]

Octupi are charismatic?

I think that sums it up, right there...

THAT's how bias is inserted into news stories at a subtle level.

[provider]

This is what happens when emotion trumps scientific models for sustainable harvest of resources. The people on this site who pushed the "bad ethics" of this harvest have jeopardized our hunting/fishingprivileges elsewhere. This is a bad thing. Now, every time someone has an emotional attachment to legal game, there is the chance that our privileges to pursue it will be revoked.

The unethical behavior jeopardizes hunting...  not the guys calling them on it!

Also, science is not the only factor.  There are scientific, economic, and social considerations.

[pianoman9701]

OK, so when your favorite hunting spot is closed because someone saw a deer that reminded her of her grandmother and she got a petition signed, keep that in mind. We should support ethics within our ranks and support each other's rights to legal harvest in the public forum. Airing our differences over legal harvest publicly will not gain us favor. It'll only limit our access down the road. My 

[snowpack]

An update to the octopus story:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/aug0213c/

Prohibits recreational harvest of octopus at seven popular scuba areas.

[h20hunter]

I think it is a good ruling. You wouldn't hunt ducks at the local park. In my mind...same thing.

[Knocker of rocks]

You wouldn't hunt ducks at the local park

Or would you?
http://www.king5.com/news/environment/90-geese-at-Lake-Sammamish-State-Park-captured-and-killed-218241661.html

[pianoman9701]

I think it is a good ruling. You wouldn't hunt ducks at the local park. In my mind...same thing.

Your fishing and hunting privileges are going away and you're OK with it. No comparison between fishing and shooting ducks in a park. A duck pond would normally have rules against discharging firearms; at least the city surrounding it would. People fish off the shore all the time and catch salmon, steelies, rockfish. What is the difference between fishing with a rod and reel and scuba fishing for octopi? Answer: there is no difference, other than some people have decided to put the life of one animal over that of others. Even this report says that octopi are abundant in Puget Sound.

The harvesting of animals should be regulated using scientific data and conservation models, not emotion. When you decide you've taken a liking to one species over another, you've opened yourself up to losing your hunting and fishing rights because someone else likes the quarry you go after and thinks that because they're cute and cuddly, hunting for them should be banned. This is a ridiculous ruling by the WA Dept of Sea Kittens and Watchable Wildlife.

[h20hunter]

Piano...

Yes, I am OK with giving up my fishing privelges in the areas that they have deemed widlife sanctuary just as they have done with the Edmonds Underwater park.