Divers die collecting cool, rare fish in S. Pacific

[clarionreef]

People,
The pursuit of deepwater wrasses in Vanuatu and deepwater ventralis anthias in Tonga has killed two divers these past few months.
I just got off the phone to my own guy in Tonga and he said the reason there was not so much alarm is because they were both Filipinos under contract and not locals with families.

The grieving families in the Philippines did not apparently count.
They were promised a severance pay...that never got sent....
They were also both pressured to dive deep for the coveted species in order to get paid.

Beautiful fish, dangerous...200 foot depths, and scandalous business.
There is no way to work 200 foot w/ conventional scuba and not kill divers.
The only press so far is this.
There will be more as I dig futher.
Sincerely, Steve

 

[fritz]

Wow

 

[prattreef]

That is very, very sad. Please keep us posted.

 

[Killerdrgn]

that blows. Another reason to only buy tank raised stuff.

 

[Deanos]

Limiting the hobby to tank-raised only fish would get boring quickly, which may not be a bad idea considering divers dying.

 

[prattreef]

But eliminating these poor fisherman's source of income isn't exactly in their best interest either.

 

[Deanos]

But eliminating these poor fisherman's source of income isn't exactly in their best interest either.

:shhh: It's not in mine either, I like wrasses :fish:

 

[IconicAquariums]

Sad, especially considering 95% of the Ventralis never make it past 2 weeks in captivity.

 

[aaron23]

geez

 

[House of Laughter]

Perhaps diver education programs can help. Or perhaps the program gets constructed with the proper equipment and education that doesn't force divers to collect under contract?

Am I off base here?

Sad, but true - families lose loved ones all the time to satisfy our sorry western needs - Deadliest catch lost 3 deckmates this year just so that we can have king crab on our tables and and ophelio crabs for crabcake fillers! Can we change that 1.2 billion dollar business overnight? NO, but we can start diver programs and collection practices that embrace safe practices and ethical collection - can't we?

House

 

[Thales]

FWIU, at least in the bearing sea there is safety training and quotas and they get paid a decent wage. At least in Tonga, none of that was the case. No diving training, not certifications, no good money and no understanding of the safety issues involved in diving at any depth.

Very very sad.

 

[Chapz]

Sad to here 2 fellow filipinos die trying to get paid so there families can eat.
I hope the families eventually get the severence pay.
That would be just cruel if they didnt.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

This is really sad, My guess if money was put into captive breeding of these fish then fewer human lives would be put into danger.

 

[Deanos]

This is really sad, My guess if money was put into captive breeding of these fish then fewer human lives would be put into danger.

Not too many reports of successfully keeping these anthias, much less captive breeding them.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

RTFRG DEAN

 

[inkblue]

I'm afraid to ask how old these divers were...

 

[boozeman]

very sad
what makes it even worse was the way thier families were treated...does a human life have any less value because it is of a different part of the world?

 

[inkblue]

yes if you are there, and no if you are here.

 

[Chapz]

Just give an update because i would really like to know there rest of the outcome.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Is there an actual news article on this or is this just one persons word we are going on?