Feeding the Fish

[Michael Purcell]

Snagged from the latest X-Ray:


At DEMA, we came across a few vendors selling the latest in fish feeding equipment—a squirt bottle with fish food. The sales pitch was that the food is safe for the fish, and the squeeze bottle promises a safe encounter since it squirts the food away from you, which keeps the fish from nibbling at you by mistake. All sounds good in theory, but we divers, we know better, right? We know that feeding the marine life teaches fish to associate human beings with food, which disturbs that very important balance on the reef, essential to the survival of species.

Our viewpoint is clear: only under a very few and specific circumstances, is it okay to feed the marine life.

So what are your thoughts?

[Christopher Bullion]

I really don't like the idea of feeding the fish. They start associating humans with food, which at the least means you don't see the fish behaving normally, or worse they get aggressive if you don't have any food. You only need to have seen the recent thread where someone decided to feed a Giant Moray with fish fingers to understand what I am talking about. For those who haven't seen what happens, here's the link to the video. I warn you, you'll wince!
http://www.break.com/index/eel_bites...ers_thumb.html (http://www.break.com/index/eel_bites_off_divers_thumb.html)

I'd far rather watch them behaving naturally, and have them look up and think 'oh look, another numpty diver' and ignore me, than 'Oh great, here comes dinner!'

Anyway, just my perspective. Be interested to hear what others say.

[Steve in Sharm]

A couple of years ago it was common practise to entice the Napolean Wrasse to your group by feeding them boiled eggs - the fish loved it and couldn't get enough, some still follow divers in the hope of a feed.

Then they started dieing, autopsies showed their stomachs blocked with undigested boiled eggs.......

Nuff said.

Steve

[Hamish]

Hi,

For those like me, who remember Cyprus back in the early-mid 70's, will know how good the aquatic life was back then especialy around the soveriegn base areas(I was at RAF Akrotiri).

In the early 90's I returned for a holiday with my family which included my grandson who was into snorkeling. I told him he would realy enjoy it in Cyprus as the fish life was realy good.:)

We stayed in Paphos and on the second day I took him snorkeling, to my utter dismay all we found was a seabed covered in a grey slime, yes it was completely polluted.:mad:

On the fourth day I went for a dive at St Georges Bay which is just around the coast from Paphos. I was wondering what we would find. Well although the bottom was not covered in slime there was not a great deal of life and to top it all, to our dismay the guide grabbed a couple of the very few sea urchins around and proceeded to use these to entice what little life there was around.:mad:

It was a pity he did not realise that for most of us it was not the thing to do and the group made this clear when we were dekitting.:(

It seems that a great deal of dive guides think that all divers want to see, is them feeding fish. No is is not.:mad:

I and everyone I know prefere to see the life performing naturally in their habitat, not being enticed by someone waving food around, and as Steve points out the food provided may do more harm than good.

Hamish

[Steve in Sharm]

Hi,

For those like me, who remember Cyprus back in the early-mid 70's, will know how good the aquatic life was back then especialy around the soveriegn base areas(I was at RAF Akrotiri).

In the early 90's I returned for a holiday with my family which included my grandson who was into snorkeling. I told him he would realy enjoy it in Cyprus as the fish life was realy good.:)

We stayed in Paphos and on the second day I took him snorkeling, to my utter dismay all we found was a seabed covered in a grey slime, yes it was completely polluted.:mad:

On the fourth day I went for a dive at St Georges Bay which is just around the coast from Paphos. I was wondering what we would find. Well although the bottom was not covered in slime there was not a great deal of life and to top it all, to our dismay the guide grabbed a couple of the very few sea urchins around and proceeded to use these to entice what little life there was around.:mad:

It was a pity he did not realise that for most of us it was not the thing to do and the group made this clear when we were dekitting.:(

It seems that a great deal of dive guides think that all divers want to see, is them feeding fish. No is is not.:mad:

I and everyone I know prefere to see the life performing naturally in their habitat, not being enticed by someone waving food around, and as Steve points out the food provided may do more harm than good.

Hamish

Crab Air before they dropped the brylcream.........

Or was the slime a 1,000 dumped cans of RAF hair gel..... :p

[JamesW]

Done my first dive at RAF Akrotiri of the pier.
Good old days.

[Hamish]

Crab Air before they dropped the brylcream.........

Or was the slime a 1,000 dumped cans of RAF hair gel..... :p

Or the result of hoards of invading Boot Necks that arrived to save us from the restless natives in the October of 74 and drank the NAFFI dry.:eek:

[Steph]

Not that I usually indulge in feeding things, but I think there is a difference between hords of divers taking in tons of food 365 days a year, or cracking open evey urchin in the vicinity, to ocaisionally cracking an urchin of a very abundant species on a little dived site.
It is not much of an extension to fish congregating around you (and they do it in lakes/places where they are not used to divers as well!) when you do a training excercise and reveal some food by steering up the silt a bit. Just that you may attract slightly bigger fish.

I wonder what it is about dive guides and showing off though.
I had the pleasure to dive with the lead diver of a reputable marine lab in the carabean.
On one dive he picked up a sea urchin by one of it's spines and place it on his hand, which considdering the constantly moving mass of long hair thin black spines was an impressive feat.
The less impresive bit was that he instead of gentlly putting it back he just droped it into the blue abbys...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diadema_antillarum
And that after we had just had a week of lectures telling us how an diseas of said urchins in the 80s was a major consolidating factor in the degredation of Jamaican reefs after hurricane Allen...

The other thing I did not get was our boat handlers being friendly to the spearfishermen in what was supposed to be a marine reserve around the lab...

[Eddie Clamp]

Hi,

For those like me, who remember Cyprus back in the early-mid 70's, will know how good the aquatic life was back then especialy around the soveriegn base areas(I was at RAF Akrotiri).

Hamish

Hi Hamish

I first went to Cyprus a a Matelot 72-74 and was a member of the Ay Nik diving club 267(S) and again 88-9 - where I was DO of 120 (S) for a while so I know the island quite well. :)

One of my favourite dive sites was located on the Ayia Napa side of Cape Greco, what we called Nato Gully. Pristine site , clear sand next to rocky cliff. Not as many morays as when I first dived it but still good. I wen back there in the mid 90's - severe mistake. The whole site was absolutly covered in rubbish and tyres - terrible!!:mad: Not a fish to be seen.

I love Cyprus but will never go back diving in that area again.

Eddie
A Fishhead who has served much with Pongoes and Crabs :D

[JamesW]

Can any of you guys remember Aquarius Diving Cyprus ran by John Levir & Guy Levir, John was ex crab air.



Hi Hamish

I first went to Cyprus a a Matelot 72-74 and was a member of the Ay Nik diving club 267(S) and again 88-9 - where I was DO of 120 (S) for a while so I know the island quite well. :)

One of my favourite dive sites was located on the Ayia Napa side of Cape Greco, what we called Nato Gully. Pristine site , clear sand next to rocky cliff. Not as many morays as when I first dived it but still good. I wen back there in the mid 90's - severe mistake. The whole site was absolutly covered in rubbish and tyres - terrible!!:mad: Not a fish to be seen.

I love Cyprus but will never go back diving in that area again.

Eddie
A Fishhead who has served much with Pongoes and Crabs :D

[Christopher Bullion]

Can any of you guys remember Aquarius Diving ran by John Levir & Guy Levir, John was ex crab air.

Yeah, I can remember Aquarius Diving, if it's the one at Sharm. Nice bunch. One of the Guides, Amr, was brilliant. He used so little air, that there seemed to be no point him having a cylinder on his back at all!

He talked to the fish on a deep and meaningful level, but never fed them. :)

[JamesW]

Yeah, I can remember Aquarius Diving, if it's the one at Sharm. Nice bunch. One of the Guides, Amr, was brilliant. He used so little air, that there seemed to be no point him having a cylinder on his back at all!

He talked to the fish on a deep and meaningful level, but never fed them. :)


No sorry in Cyprus
Thanks

[John Bantin]

A couple of years ago it was common practise to entice the Napolean Wrasse to your group by feeding them boiled eggs - the fish loved it and couldn't get enough, some still follow divers in the hope of a feed.

Then they started dieing, autopsies showed their stomachs blocked with undigested boiled eggs.......

Nuff said.

Steve

Sorry Steve, that is actually bollox. I wrote an article about it once and when I researched it distinguished animal nutritionist David Frape told me they died of cancer because they had lived well past their sell-by-date. They were also big because they were getting a high protein diet. The article was adjusted to be politically acceptable. People do not like their beliefs challenged.
You can read it at:
http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?id=2655&sc=&ac=d&an=

It seems the real reason not to feed fishes is that they might frighten poor little divers!

[Steph]

In your article you write:

"being given unsuitable high-protein foods such as cheese and boiled eggs. The associated stomach problems eventually killed them"

Sorry, I'm confused now.

Are you saying:
1. They simply died of old age associated cancer?
2. They died of some cancer caused by inadequate diet?
3. They died of stomach cancer caused by inadequate diet?


As for the postulated necessity of baiting in order to make photographs of large predetors. Was this article before autofocus?
I have seen plenty of good pictures of say pelagic white tips, which were not baited, made by recreational divers.
I see pictures of baited fish as done on the cheap.
(i.e. you don't have to wait tens or even hudereds of dives for that perfect shot of that elusive subject and then better be ready and skilled enough to make good of use the opportunity).
It is the difference between the perfect snap shot and a staged photograph almost turning the sea into a studio.

Yes, if there is no scientific evidence that the feeding is doing any harm then (providing this is not just due to a lack of appropriate studies) banning it is not on.

At the same time I can't see myself attending such an event. I has just too much of a dolphins jumping through Hoops, sealions balancing a ball on thier nose kind of feel for my taste.

[John Bantin]

In your article you write:

"being given unsuitable high-protein foods such as cheese and boiled eggs. The associated stomach problems eventually killed them"

Sorry, I'm confused now.

Are you saying:
1. They simply died of old age associated cancer?
2. They died of some cancer caused by inadequate diet?
3. They died of stomach cancer caused by inadequate diet?


As for the postulated necessity of baiting in order to make photographs of large predetors. Was this article before autofocus?
I have seen plenty of good pictures of say pelagic white tips, which were not baited, made by recreational divers.
I see pictures of baited fish as done on the cheap.
(i.e. you don't have to wait tens or even hudereds of dives for that perfect shot of that elusive subject and then better be ready and skilled enough to make good of use the opportunity).
It is the difference between the perfect snap shot and a staged photograph almost turning the sea into a studio.

Yes, if there is no scientific evidence that the feeding is doing any harm then (providing this is not just due to a lack of appropriate studies) banning it is not on.

At the same time I can't see myself attending such an event. I has just too much of a dolphins jumping through Hoops, sealions balancing a ball on thier nose kind of feel for my taste.

Oceanic white-tipsharks follow vessels that drop food waste over the side. They have come to associate large vessels and the noise splashes coming from them with food. The advent of large liveaboards (in Egypt) draws them away from the main shipping lane to places of high boat activity such as the Elphinstone. In other words divers get the spin-off from the crew of distant freighters baiting the water.

Dr.David Frape and Dr.David Bellamy both told me that fish have the ability to digest a wide range of food matter although it might give them explosive indigestion (the farts). The Napolean wrasse at Ras Mohammed lived longer than they might have done because they continued to get fed after their natural lifespan was finished.

It seems the main objection to fish feeding is that it rids the fishes of their natural fear of man. But then, should we be there in the first place?

In Florida it is illegal to feed fish except for the purpose of harvesting (killing) them.

I have to declare an interest: I am in the Bahamas at the moment making great close-up photographs of sharks and dolphins!

[bythesea]

I feed fish everyday..2 clowns a coral beauty a splendid leopard wrasse a clown goby a red skunk shrimp and a boxing shrimp.... well kinda have to, they live in a tank in my living room ;)

[The Rocketeer]

Trouble is that when you start feeding the fish like what I saw in the dive site called "Twin pipes" off Lanzarote this last Christmas. The big groupers start to follow you around underwater like a loyal pet jack russel dog might.

Whilst this is funny at first it is also tragic because it only takes one unscrupulous indivdual to go down with an aqualung and a harpoon gun to collect his un-naturally selected sunday dinner, spoiling it for the rest of us because the fish was not afraid of just who might kill him.

No thou shalt not feed the fishes!!