sea food

[Kris2]

Yet another silly question from me. Suppose should be patient and wait till see d instructor next. (not patient)
what are the rules mandatory or self regulated about taking lobster or food fish from the english coast whilst diving.
I.E - is thar off-season, what size limitations are there ect, ect.

[Hamish]

Yet another silly question from me. Suppose should be patient and wait till see d instructor next. (not patient)
what are the rules mandatory or self regulated about taking lobster or food fish from the english coast whilst diving.
I.E - is thar off-season, what size limitations are there ect, ect.

Kris,

My particular slant is look but don't touch. That includes not taking crustaceans. If every diver took a lobster/crab on thier dive we would soon run out of these species to look at.

It's bad enough that commercial fishermen overfish what little reserves we have left without divers adding to the depletion.

Hamish

[Kris2]

Many thanx Hamish . Would probably suprise you that i am of similar beliefs. I was only asking in the context of food fish, I.e. ( The fish that we normally source from the fishmongers).
Am curious though, considering the laws of supply and demand, if we all took the fish home that we needed to eat, would the reduction in demand go some way towards making comercial fishing un-viable or would it like you say have more drastic effect then hoovering up vast quantities of Fauna like the comercial fishermen do.
I would walk a long way to avoid treading on an ant but at the moment i still feel the need to eat animal protein, so untill i turn fully vegie there is still a chance that i may get tempted by a tasty looking lobster at some time in the future.But only when i find out about seasons and permissable sizes and stuff.
Any way , cracking footage of your scapa trip on UTUBE, hope to dive there someday when built up enough experience.
Best wishes, Kris.

[nigelhoath]

making comercial fishing un-viable

Kris I am a carnivore and have no ambition to become a veggie. Thus I would be against any attempt to make "fishing unviable". I want to make it "sustainable."

My other issue would relate to dive sites. Unless the hunter diver goes to very different sites than the viewing diver then surely there must be a conflict of interest. Not only would there be less lobsters to see at the dive sites but presumably a deterioration of all the little critters in the complex food change that lobbies participate in.

I don’t know if others have found this but since meeting the fish during my initial diving experiences I have eaten less of them. Seeing sheep, pigs and beef in a field doesn’t have the same effect.

This worries me. I’m the sort of cowardly hypocrite who wouldn’t wring a chicken's neck but happily buys one from the supermarket.

I never thought this SCUBA stuff would have such impact on my life. Weird but wonderful.:)

[bythesea]

Kris,

My particular slant is look but don't touch. That includes not taking crustaceans. If every diver took a lobster/crab on thier dive we would soon run out of these species to look at.

Hamish

Sorry, but that made me laugh... have you ever tried to catch a lobster... bloody tricky animals to got hold off and fight once you have.... same with crabs I would be amazed if every diver could even find one on every dive...let alone catch it.

I see nothing wrong with taking a meal home at the end of a dive, generally some scallops as they dont bite ;) and boy do they taste good. If I bought them I would be supporting trawllers that do more damage to the U/W enviroment than everything else combined.

Most of our club shop from the seabed but I bet we manage two or three lobsters a year between us, maybe a hand full of crabs and a few flatfish yet year after year there are still plenty about.

[PeteM]

Yet another silly question from me. Suppose should be patient and wait till see d instructor next. (not patient)
what are the rules mandatory or self regulated about taking lobster or food fish from the english coast whilst diving.
I.E - is thar off-season, what size limitations are there ect, ect.

Personally I think if you are going to eat sea food then you are better taking it yourself than buying it from a fish munger. Your take has no bye catch, is judge for suitability before taking to the surface, has no risk of ghost nets/pots, does no collateral damage like you get when you drag heavy fish gear across the sea bed (have you seen what that does!).

Regulations of what you can take vary around the country so best to check locally but generally there are size limits for most things and you must never take a berried crab or lobster. Also most places the rule is only one lobster and either one or two crabs

[Kris2]

Many thanx folks. Maybe my opinions will change when i get more dives in. If i actually come face to face with a lobby i doubt if i would have the heart to take it anyway even if i could out-fight it. lol.
Kris

[Paul Oliver]

Lobsters must be at least this size :)

http://i29.tinypic.com/nfiexy.jpg

This is how to catch them :)

http://i27.tinypic.com/35mr090.jpg

And here we have a quality Sunday dinner for 4 :)

http://i32.tinypic.com/aypxjr.jpg

You do need to measure them to see they are big enough and always check underneath to see if they are in berry, if they are let them go. If they have a new shell and are soft let them go as they will be 'orrible.

[Daron]

Well I think I have heard it all....

Let’s get things a bit real and straight

1) Divers who take Lobsters are doing it because its cheap and they don’t have to pay for it. Not because they really really love Lobster, otherwise they would be down Tesco every week buying one. If they had to pay for it a retail rate do you really think they would take them? Think about it!!

2) They think its Macho Macho, the guy above is displaying his like a trophy for goodness sake!! Wow what hero, I bet he nicks stuff off wrecks too.

3) Do you honestly believe that a wholesaler/fisherman is going say "I just heard John caught a lobby, better catch one less today"!! Rubbish

4) Many of divers dive to see the marine life, divers who take the marine life because its cheap are selfish and deny the others divers the pleasure of seeing. ( I have never seen a lobster as big as the one in the photo and of course now there is one less The one he is holding look like a very large female that could have produced 8 times more offspring than a young adult, they take years to get to that size)

5) Would you or anyone else ever consider going out in the countryside for a day out and shooting a couple of wild deer?



Daron

[paul_c]

Well I think I have heard it all....

Let’s get things a bit real and straight

1) Divers who take Lobsters are doing it because its cheap and they don’t have to pay for it. Not because they really really love Lobster, otherwise they would be down Tesco every week buying one. If they had to pay for it a retail rate do you really think they would take them? Think about it!!

2) They think its Macho Macho, the guy above is displaying his like a trophy for goodness sake!! Wow what hero, I bet he nicks stuff off wrecks too.

3) Do you honestly believe that a wholesaler/fisherman is going say "I just heard John caught a lobby, better catch one less today"!! Rubbish

4) Many of divers dive to see the marine life, divers who take the marine life because its cheap are selfish and deny the others divers the pleasure of seeing. ( I have never seen a lobster as big as the one in the photo and of course now there is one less The one he is holding look like a very large female that could have produced 8 times more offspring than a young adult, they take years to get to that size)

5) Would you or anyone else ever consider going out in the countryside for a day out and shooting a couple of wild deer?



Daron


1) thats the point in my mind. fish is good healthy food but it is far to expesnive in the UK and what you get in manchester is awful most of it is already close to going off and i am yet to have a SINGLE crab which is fit for human consumption from any of the fish mongers i go to. a diver who takes enough for himself and partner is not ruining an ecosystem ala beam trawling (which i used to do oddly).

2) each to there own. you been to afishing club of late? ever seen how many picies of fish catches there are? and women do it too. and its alot of a strech to go from subsitance catching to nicking metal bits froma wreck

3) no they wont. then again if the fish monger made it cheep enough to buy then i wouldnt see the need to take anything anyway (bar things which i cant get like eel) .

4) large lobsters are rarer due to OVERCATCHING and people catching the small ones which arent suposed to be caught.

5) yep i would happily ditto bunnies, boar, fox, pheasent, hare, and pretty much any game other than pigin which i cant stand the taste off. i would also gut it, skin it and prepare the joints for eating. and i would cure the hide if i had a garden to do it in and turn it into a rug.
likewise with fish if i catch it ill eat it (i go sea fishing of occasion as well).

deer shoots are to costly for me but when i get the chance i do go rabitting for food which isnt as oftern as i used to,althou mixi is on the comback which makes it a riskey thing to eat .

as long as the catch meets the landing regs for size and sex (no females at spawning times) then how is it different to the stuff from a fishmongers other than price?

if a diver is harvesting a scallop bed or taking huge ammounts of shelfish with them then i cant agree with it and as soon as it is sold your iirc breaking the law.

[bythesea]

5) Would you or anyone else ever consider going out in the countryside for a day out and shooting a couple of wild deer?

Daron

Absolutly.. and on the way back I would pick some wild mushrooms and some berries to go with it.

[likeafish]

This does sadden me. I can see both points here and it is up to the individuals choice about what they should do.
Personaly I am fascinated by sea life and would not remove it on a dive. Although I do eat fish I still feel guilty eating it after a dive.
I am more anxious about the tons of wasted fish that is thrown away every day after sitting in someones fridge for a week.
I have just finished reading Deborah Cramer's book 'Great Waters - An atlantic Passage' which opened my eyes about what is happening to fish stocks globally (If you are interested in the Sea I thoroughly recommend this book) and we should be priveledged that there is some life to see on our dives at the moment - our children may not be so lucky!
I was saddened also to see the gentleman above with his lobster, I obviously don't know his motivation to dive but I guess it is to see the marine life but his obvious pride and pleasure in its death is in contradiction to this. Perhaps if he reads this response to seeing his pictures it may trigger some remorse in his actions and may encourage less of these gloating pictures from other similar individuals.

[bythesea]

Absolutly.. and on the way back I would pick some wild mushrooms and some berries to go with it.

Why would I go to the supermarket and pay for lobster or scallops some one else had cought when I can get them for myself?

In the case of scallops if you do buy them from Tesco you are responsable for trawllers wrecking the sea bed and depriving you of more life than a lobster...

This isnt about being macho... it is the natural order of things and boy does it taste so much better.

The reason you havnt seen a lobbie is prob more to do with the fact you dont know where to look for them...there are plenty about, of that I have no doubt as I see them all the time.

[bythesea]

BTW I have spoken to Natural England about divers taking something home for dinner and they so from there point of view as long as the catch is of a realistic size them it has no impact on the enviroment as the numbers are so small.... this is from the people who set up lundy marine reserve and directly from the man responsable for the Lyme bay project

[Michael Purcell]

I guess I will wade in.

I do have issue with people taking catch from sites that are generally known as frequented dive sites. Most animals have smaller territories and an ecosystem tends to form.

I eat seafood and while I do feel the guilt at killing my own food I think it would do people some good if they had to kill what they eat. (if that turns them off eating meat then all the better) Killing our own food connects us to the circle of life. Having someone else do that for us doesn't make us evaluate our choices or appreciate the animals we kill to "sustain" us.

In Canada you can't take any lobster on SCUBA or they will take your gear and your car if it is used in transporting the catch. Is this a sustainability issue? I doubt it. I would suspect it is about a strong fisherman lobby.

A question I asked a while back was about spearfishing on SCUBA. The only reasonable (to me)answers I received were firstly spearfishers were using all species as target practice and secondly, SCUBA provided the "advantage" of taking the largest of the species. (Usually being the most prolific.)

[Chris aka divingchef]

In Canada you can't take any lobster on SCUBA or they will take your gear and your car if it is used in transporting the catch. Is this a sustainability issue? I doubt it. I would suspect it is about a strong fisherman lobby.




Same in Spain and you might get two years prison sentence under the food handling laws.

The same applies for spear fishing on SCUBA

[Alan Taylor]

Lobsters must be at least this size :)

http://i29.tinypic.com/nfiexy.jpg

This is how to catch them :)

http://i27.tinypic.com/35mr090.jpg

And here we have a quality Sunday dinner for 4 :)

http://i32.tinypic.com/aypxjr.jpg

You do need to measure them to see they are big enough and always check underneath to see if they are in berry, if they are let them go. If they have a new shell and are soft let them go as they will be 'orrible.

Caught some crabs in Belize once(Big C as I recall) that felt that big, shifted them with some powder from M.O. The RAF had lobsters that big 'cos they were posh.:D

[Steve in Sharm]

My last UK dive was 4 years ago this summer, 40 mins at The Lizard.

I saw 6 fish,

yes, SIX

I gave up eating fish there and then, fish are not a sustainable food source, we are raping and killing the oceans and one day soon it will come back to bite us.

Regards

Stevie H

[Alan Taylor]

My last UK dive was 4 years ago this summer, 40 mins at The Lizard.

I saw 6 fish,

yes, SIX

I gave up eating fish there and then, fish are not a sustainable food source, we are raping and killing the oceans and one day soon it will come back to bite us.

Regards

Stevie H

Must be spoilt for choice then, lunch time on Sharm day boat Chicken(gold only) if your quick, pasta with tomato sauce or fish?:rolleyes:

We raped and killed a lot of the Sub-Continent shall i stop eating curry?

[Paul Oliver]

God there is some drivel on here :)

Yesterdays dive off of Dungeness was on a very seldom dived wreck, possibly even a virgin wreck in 29m, decks at 24m.

There were lots of lobsters similar in size to the one in the picture, crabs as big as dinner plates, huge flatfish and at times zero viz as i had so many fish swimming around me (we had some current at start and finnish as i had a rather long dive) :D Tompot blennies and Dogfish all over the wreck and we left the lot alone, mainly as we were after another one of these :)

http://i27.tinypic.com/o04b51.jpg

If you dive the normal tourist wrecks you will not see too many, get on deeper or less frequently dived wrecks and you will see many more, this one is off the Moldavia :) there are loads this size on it and if you are happy to wrestle with this at 50m then i think thats a very fair catch

http://i26.tinypic.com/2dmcq3d.jpg

We did not see any Conga Eels, we used to see loads but since the fishermen started getting on all the wrecks with GPS and electronic charts they have killed them all off, they catch them, kill them, take a picture and generally dump them in the marina.

Mine are well above legal limits, not in berry, generally off infrequently dived wrecks and everything edible is eaten :)

FFS next you will be telling me to leave this on the wreck

http://i31.tinypic.com/o6bk3s.jpg

[Paul Oliver]

My last UK dive was 4 years ago this summer, 40 mins at The Lizard.

I saw 6 fish,

yes, SIX

I gave up eating fish there and then, fish are not a sustainable food source, we are raping and killing the oceans and one day soon it will come back to bite us.

Regards

Stevie H

Try diving off of Dover we have loads of fish :) and loads of rust :)

[Daron]

The point is you dont have to take it, but you do! and the only reason you do is NOT becuase you really want it, but becuase its free and you dont have to pay for it!

If you had to pay for it there is no way you would take it

Its all about money.

[Paul Oliver]

No i take it 'cos i like it, no thats wrong, i luv it ;) and i can assure you that the amount i have spent over the years learning to dive, buying the kit, gaining the experience and doing the diving it would have been a lot cheaper to get them from the fishmongers.

I eat out in France once a week, always seafood because i like it not because of any lack of other choice.

When i was a kid i used to go shrimping, crabbing and prawning, not to make any money, although we could get a few bob, but because i loved the food and we could not afford to buy it very often if at all.

I suppose you could put it down to being brought up wrong then ;)

[bythesea]

Interesting how all those against myself and Paul Oliver eating our catch seem to live inland....miles from the coast, where as all the divers I know who live by the coast have no problem with it.

It isnt about money. It is about eating the freshest food you can get, you are right, I wont buy lobster from tesco as I dont know how old it is... most of the fish you buy as fresh is at least a week old where as if I grab a flattie it is in the pan within an hour... and boy oh boy can tell the differance.

All power to you Paul .. some nice bits of brass there too

[likeafish]

This is getting embarassing!
Do you guys dive for pleasure or just to kill things and rip bits of wrecks off?
Something to think about...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Waters-Atlantic-Deborah-Cramer/dp/0393020193

[bythesea]

This is getting embarassing!
Do you guys dive for pleasure or just to kill things and rip bits of wrecks off?
Something to think about...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Waters-Atlantic-Deborah-Cramer/dp/0393020193

It would no doubt suprise you to find out I am heading up a marine conservation initiative.

As I have stated before in this thread about conversations with Natural England and the fact that in their opinion divers catching their dinner has little to no impact as jugment and selectivity come into play.

If you want to lobby people about the U/W enviroment and damage to it have a go at the trawllers that rip up the sea bed with impunity.

I live on the south coast and two weeks ago a fleet arrived from scotland and dredged for a week to catch cuttlefish causing an outrageous amount of damage in the process.

If I take a lobster all I am doing is cutting out the middle man... at some point it will wander into opne of the hundreds of pots around here...be taken to market... carbon footprint?... be bought and transported to a central distrubation point... more carbon.... on to a supermarket somewhere...more carbon.... and finally into your home, no doubt in a wrapper and carrier bag....

The way I do it causes the absolute minimum of damage both to the U/W enviroment and to the planet as a whole

[Paul Oliver]

This is getting embarassing!
Do you guys dive for pleasure or just to kill things and rip bits of wrecks off?
Something to think about...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Waters-Atlantic-Deborah-Cramer/dp/0393020193

Why is it getting embarassing, different people have different attitudes, some dive for fish hugging, others for rust, some for brass, some for the depth, others for the planning and deco.

I dive for some of most, the depth, planning and deco are just there to do.

If there is good viz i tend to just take in the site and sealife, if poor viz i tend to look in more detail, in good viz i would never have seen that porthole but as it was quite close and dark viz i was looking at a small area in detail.

When i dive abroad and at UK scenic site's its nearly all fish hugging and i enjoy that, i enjoy Cuttlefish, Octopus, Seahorses and many more, but that aint gonna stop me enjoying other elements. At St Abbs i dive by the rules and still enjoy the dive why else would i drive the length of the country to dive there?

There is nothing to think about what i do, its all legal and above board, the RoW is currently dealing with that Porthole and the Lobsters were very nice :)

[likeafish]

OK, fair enough. I guess I like playing devils advocate and although I don't like the idea of taking lobsters I accept that some do and I accept it.
However I also accept that diving itself has a huge carbon footprint so please don't try to bring that into it!
Manufacture of wetsuits / drysuits, driving to and from divesites, taking a boat out, filling a tank...... you get my drift.

What is the conservation project you are heading? That sounds very promising and interesting.

[Paul Oliver]

So whats the next thread?

Should we give up diving because of the Carbon footprint?

I prefer this book anyway ;)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rick-Steins-Seafood-Odyssey-Stein/dp/B0009WT596/ref=pd_sim_dbs_b_title_39

[Daron]

hmm ok, fair point. My annoyance is really directed at the industrial fishing that is wiping the oceans bare, then at the hordes of "sport fishermen" picking off anything inshore, so for me to hear divers picking off the last scraps does annoy me, in isolation you are right it probally makes no difference at all , but in conjunction with the rest.....

[Paul Oliver]

Get on some of these wrecks and see whats there, its very far from sparse or last pickings.

[PeteM]

hmm ok, fair point. My annoyance is really directed at the industrial fishing that is wiping the oceans bare, then at the hordes of "sport fishermen" picking off anything inshore, so for me to hear divers picking off the last scraps does annoy me, in isolation you are right it probally makes no difference at all , but in conjunction with the rest.....

That is fair comment, providing you consume no fish product. As it happens in ten years of diving I have only taken sea food three times however I support peoples right to do so providing it is a reasonable amount for their own use and is all legal and sustainable. What really winds me up are those that are happy to eat a fish supper but slag off those that take the odd lobster or half a dozen scallops as the damage I have seen from industrial fishing is simply appalling. Diver taken sea food is as low an impact you are going to get.

And before you wade in with "I don't eat seafood" think about these:

Most wine and some beer (finned with Insaglass - from fish)
Cod liver and similar supplements (and some Enhanced Omega 3 products)
Farmed Chicken frequently fed on fish meal
Farmed Salmon always fed on fish meal

[bythesea]

What is the conservation project you are heading? That sounds very promising and interesting.

Can't say too much about it as the area I am in has a large fishing industry and people round here could make things very difficult if I went public too soon, much collating of information needs to be done queitly as a full on public battle would get nowhere.

This thread has raised some interesting points, along with the usual garbage from a few missing the point, present company excepted likeafish.

Remember 2008 is the year of the alleged marine conservation zones so show your support by clicking this link

http://www.mcsuk.org/marineworld/marine_bill_petition


As Paul Oliver stated there is plenty of life if you look in the right places.

On the grand scale of things diver impact doesnt even register only if we all point ourselves in the right direction can we make a differance.

If a fleet of tractors were to plough a national park there would be uproar but as most people never see the sea bed it is a case of out of sight out of mind.

If a few people pick a few mushrooms or snare a few rabbits in the same national park then it makes no differance overall

For those who are truley interested, pink fan corals and sun corals are protected species and if you encounter damage of these in your area you should document it and approach bodies such as natural England with the evidence, this is the key to making things change, check out the well documented Lyme Bay project. Those of you who really want to see an improvment in marine life around our shores can make it work by following this example

[Kris2]

well said Paul !! i would say that the only peops that wern,t a tad two faced about harvesting their own food supplies were the peops that were genuine veggies.
And also if every diver in Uk suddenly started taking sea food for their own consumption from the marine envoironment as a % of comercial fishing catches in these waters it would be insignificant.
And !!!! also , if you won,t eat fish that you can catch off our coast but you will eat "sardines" for instance,. Is that not yet another case of NIMBY.
obviously i would say that most divers are acutely aware of their marine envoironment and would do a lot to help protect it. But we still av to eat.

[Mark Cowgill]

Hi

I think that there is a problem here with some people thinking that food comes ready prepared in shrink wrap.I find it extreamly hypocrytical that someone who will buy a lobster,Scallop or any other seafood from Seafood is us, but wont take and kill one themselfs, its called shutting of Your mind to reality.
Did anyone see the Jamie Oliver programe about how animals are slaughtered,and the conditions they are kept in, although I am not a Jamie fan ( Ainsley for Me ) He did try to highlite the fact that food is not born in a plastic bag,and that We should try to make the practice of keeping animals for food as humane a proccess as possible.
I have been to many dive sites around the UK and seen the devastation of certain types of commercial fishing.( Our fault, supply and demand).
I have taken the odd Scallop Myself and I have had people look at Me like I have just said that Ian Brady was an OK chap, the same people go and pick up their £42 seafood platter to entertain their friends that night.

Please, if you do eat Seafood but would not catch or kill it Yourself,then think about that.

Mark

[Adrian Kelland]

It is also worth noting that a fish/crab etc may be legal size in one area, but undersized in another.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/marine/pdf/fisheries/minimumfishsizes.pdf

[Janos]

Personally, I try to take nothing that I won't eat that day.

I love scallops, and they used to be one of my favourite things to order in restaurants. Now I only eat Diver Caught scallops, more often than not by me or t'missus :)

Janos

[Adrian Kelland]

Personally, I try to take nothing that I won't eat that day.

I love scallops, and they used to be one of my favourite things to order in restaurants. Now I only eat Diver Caught scallops, more often than not by me or t'missus :)

Janos
Pretty much the same Janos, although a Sunday catch is usually out as I can't be bothered with the cooking in the evening. A few extra scallops will go in the freezer. :) Never know when we'll have a BBQ and I never seem to be able to get them to order.

[ChristianG]

May I give an Oz perspective?

Our States have different "takes" on the take issue and I could well be wrong in what I say here, except for NSW, but essentially:

NSW: limited to a take of no more than 10 abalone, must be at least the right size, per diver, per day. Take anything else and you risk confiscation of boat and trailer and everything in it. Cause of confiscation includes a mix of spearfishing and SCUBA equipment aboard the boat at the same time.
SA, WA, Vic, Tas: allowed to take our version of lobbies (oversized Langoustines).
Qld: well, that's really another country but they're seriously strict.
NT: who dives the NT? Saltwater crocodiles are probably fair game on SCUBA - if you were to dare. We lose more people to salties on a yearly basis than the rest of our, mostly poisonous, animals put together.

Personally I essentially don't eat fishy stuff, I can and will but I simply wouldn't entertain the prospect except if another circumstance (overseas guests comes readily to mind - Sydney happens to have one of the world's best fish restaurants in a perfect position on that harbour) warrants it. Me? I prefer to photograph the li'l buggers.

There is a good case to be made for divers taking edible stuff out of the sea if only because that is usually, as has been said before, a very selective take.

I am, however, totally against spearfishing competitions of any kind. They have "bag limits" but what happens to a bigger version of the species you're just speared? Yeah, right. The smaller one is consigned to the deep. Yes, the smaller one is inevitably eaten by its fellow denizens but it doesn't get to live out its natural life and begat children. Incidentally, I was a fairly accomplished spearo in my youth (sob) but gave up, without even realising it, as soon as I had a SCUBA tank strapped to my back.

[Boat Elf]

Food - my favourite subject!

Some very interesting viewpoints have certainly been raised here. But like many of you here, I have to agree that if you eat seafood from the supermarket or fishmongers then you can hardly chastise those that catch their own. Provided you are considerate of what, where and how you catch and eat you own food direct from the sea, then this can only end up being not only more satisfying but also more sustainable.

I enjoy eating lobsters, crab and scallops from my dive (you can't beat that really fresh taste and having kinda gone back to our ancestors way of life - I love a bit of a forage in the forest too). However, I would only ever catch for myself, follow all guidelines and never take from marine reserves.

Don't forget that buying your seafood from the shop - it will have gained a small carbon footprint too, with the refrigerated lorry to Billingsgate or wherever, then another onto your local store. By catching your own food you know that no dredging has been done, know exactly how it was caught and only take what you need.

Right I'm hungry now....

[GaryC]

I hope that doesn't work the other way. Personally I would take lobsters on a dive. However, I would not buy them either from a Supermarket or a fishmongers. The taste is just so different and that goes for scallops too.

The maximum I have ever taken is 3 in any one year. It is too much like hassle trying to catch them when you are trying to get round a wreck in a limited time.

Crabs I leave well alone, basically cos I don't like them.

Used to like doing a bit of rod fishing too. Fished a wreck off Brid one day for about an hour before slack and got not one touch. When we dived the wreck there were hundreds of the things. You couldnt see the wreck for them. I think at that point I realized it was easier to catch fish from the local fish and chip shop.

Gary

[Paul Oliver]

Well today we dived a wreck off of the South Goodwins and another off of Dungeness and saw loads of sealife, i spotted 3 Lobsters, all too small for me to take, dinner plate size crabs which were all left alone and walls of fish on both wrecks (Pollack, Bib,Wrasse, Bass, Dogfish, Tompot Blennies, flatfish - to name a few)

Out of the total of 26 Dives on 2 wrecks there was 1 lobster released from a net and 1 lobster bought up for dinner, nothing else came up other than a selection of old bottles.

So not too much impact on the environment ;)