Anyone catch fish or shellfish to eat on excursions?

[whataboutport]

Wonder if anyone ever do this? I know there are fishing excursions, but do you actually eat the fish you catch or is it for sport? Anyone ever go snorkeling or scuba and gather shellfish or urchins to eat? Every time I snorkel I think of all the urchins I see that I want to eat. It's just there for the taking! Is that frowned upon?

 

One of the main reasons I booked Bernard's tour when we went to St Maarten was to see the sea urchin man and eat some uni when he offers it. Usually no one ever wants to eat it from what I have read. I would have said yes! but our tour skipped him. Major bummer.

[Capt_BJ]

- many fishing trips allow you to keep your catch .. but that's kind of a problem if you take the trip while on a cruise .... the ship is NOT going to cook it for you, or put it in their freezer! But I've come home from a fishing charter with plenty to stock my freezer .... not from a cruise ship tho.

 

- many dive/snorkel trips are into protected areas / parks / sanctuaries where taking anything is a no no .... take only pictures .. leave only bubbles!

 

- where taking IS ok ... you might need a license ... for example taking lobster in the Keys right now is OK (season is open) but you need a license . . . .

 

- I went on one dive trip where one party was spear fishing .... they made me somewhat nervous .... visibility wasn't that great .... but they did take home a good sized Cobia. which is good eating.

[whataboutport]

I do understand that if you catch a bunch of fish on an excursion you can't bring it one board. But anyone ever have a tour that they catch a few and the guides cook the fish?

 

For me, I want to get an urchin or two and eat them right there. There's SO many! My sister told me when we first started diving, her DM took them out around Catalina Island and got an urchin and opened it up to feed the fish and a bunch of them came around. This was before she started eating uni (urchin). Do urchins multiply quickly?

[Capt_BJ]

years back there was a huge die off of urchins in the Carib', this predicated the huge coral die off ....

 

I too remember breaking open urchins for fish feeding when diving in the 70's .... today I'd say this is considered 'bad form'

[whataboutport]

Ok. Thanks for the info.